Vietnam to buy 3,000MW electricity from Laos

Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has asked its government for permission to buy more electricity from Laos and, if granted, this will bring the total amount approved to almost 3,000MW, according to a local media report.

Transmission lines.      --Photo Phoonsab

EVN has submitted a report to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) on negotiations and a power purchasing agreement for the import of electricity from Laos, according to Vietnam Net.
On October 5, 2015, the governments of Laos and Vietnam signed an MOU with the latter to purchase a minimum of 3,000MW from its neighbour by 2025 and 5,000MW by 2030.
To date, the Vietnamese Prime Minister has approved plans to import electricity from some projects/groups of projects with a total capacity of 2,689MW, the news agency reported recently.
EVN has received proposals on electricity sale from investors. EVN and the investors of 10 projects/groups of projects with a total capacity of 1,577MW have come to agreements on connection methods.
EVN has reported to the Ministry of Industry and Trade the plan to import electricity. The ministry has considered the plan and has asked the prime minister to additionally approve some projects with total capacity of 705MW.
However, a Lao power developer has notified EVN that it will not continue to sell electricity to EVN generated by the Nam Ou 5 (240MW) and Nam Ngum 4 (240MW) hydropower plants, saying that the sale of electricity from these plants would be ineffective, according to the report.
As such, if the prime minister approves the import plans for the remaining projects, EVN will be able to import only 226MW of electricity through two lines, namely the 220kV Nam Mo-Tuong Duong (203MW) and the 220kV Nam Kong-Bo Y (22.5MW).
Vietnam’s plan to import more power from Laos aims to meet the country’s growing energy consumption needs, mainly driven by the fast-growing economy.
It is estimated that Vietnam’s electricity shortage could rise from nearly 10 billion kWh in 2022 to about 15 billion kWh in 2023, before gradually decreasing to 7 and 3.5 billion kWh in 2024 and 2025 respectively, according to calculations by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Vietnam Investment Review reported previously.
EVN has signed 18 power purchase agreements with 23 power projects in Laos. Transmission lines have also been installed to facilitate electricity supply.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update February 17, 2023)