In 2020, according to the approval decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (when there was no COVID-19), Vietnam's power demand still maintained a high growth rate. Total production for the whole year as planned is 261 billion kWh. To meet the power demand, EVN is also expected to run an additional 3.4 billion kWh of oil-fired power. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the low power consumption load resulted in the exploited power sources being lower than the planned one. Actual power output was just over 247 billion kWh, increasing by over 3%, with a decrease at 14,350 billion kWh. In the first 4 months of 2021, the power production grew by 7.92%; commercial power increased by 6.74%.
According to the plan, in 2020, more than 10 billion kWh of renewable energy was mobilized, but in reality, up to 12 billion kWh has been exploited.
Up to now, the total installed capacity of the whole system has reached nearly 70,000MW. In which, solar power alone as of April 2021 has reached 18,783MW (9,583 MW of rooftop solar power and about 9,200 MW of farm solar power). According to the registered investor plan, from now to the end of 2021, about 4,000-5,000MW of wind power will be put into operation. It is expected that in 2021, the power output mobilized from renewable energy will reach about 32 billion kWh. Notably, grid-connected RE sources are locally concentrated in some areas, leading to difficulties in power system operation. Despite such difficulties, EVN shall still ensure to mobilize power sources in the direction of prioritizing renewable energy, ensuring safe and uninterrupted power supply for load systems.
EVN proposing the optimal solution to operate the power system when renewable energy is available
In the first 4 months of 2021, the amount of rooftop solar power will be cut down by 447.5 million kWh, accounting for 13.3%. It is expected that, for the whole year of 2021, the capacity of 1.25 billion kWh, accounting for 9% of total RE output, will be cut down.
From the actual operation, EVN has also developed solutions and reported them to the authorities in which it is recommended to review, update and adjust circulars and processes to make them suitable to the operating conditions of the power system with a high proportion of renewable energy, especially with a large penetration rate of rooftop solar power on the distribution grid, promptly promulgate a mechanism for rooftop solar power, which encourages the increase of self-use capacity as well as ensures technical requirements.