EVNSPC in coordination with relevant associations are motivating farmers to use compact fluorescent lamps instead of incandescent light bulbs for lighting dragon fruit plantation.
Benefits gained
Up to now, dragon fruit plantation lighting to gain unseasonable dragon fruit crops, bringing higher profits than only seasonable crops, has helped farmers in provinces where plenty of dragon fruits are planted such as Binh Thuan, Tien Giang, Long An, etc. alleviate poverty and become wealthier.
However, unseasonable dragon fruit planation cost is considerably high. One of the most obvious reasons is the usage of energy inefficient incandescent light bulbs.
According to a survey conducted by the power sector, in January 2014, approximately 14,000 ha out of 21,000 ha of dragon fruit plantation in Binh Thuan province were illuminated by incandescent light bulbs to stimulate unseasonable flowering, using 4.2 million 60 W light bulbs.
Similarly, in Long An province, 1,450 ha out of 3,352 ha use 800,000 incandescent light bulbs, and in Tien Giang province, 900 ha among 1,033 ha use over 1 million light bulbs. Farmer households in the three provinces Binh Thuan, Long An, and Tien Giang use in the aggregate more than 6 million 60 W incandescent light bulbs for lighting and stimulating dragon fruit to flower unseasonably.
With such a big number of incandescent light bulbs, the peak demand was approximately 252 MW which is relatively high, causing a waste of energy and a cost burden for farmers. For that reason, EVN assigned EVNSPC to implement the above-mentioned program.
According to EVN’s estimation, if dragon fruit growers replace incandescent light bulbs with two millions compact fluorescent lamps as per the target set for the first phase of the program, tens of billion VND of electricity expenditure shall be saved every year. In addition, the power sector can cut down the peak capacity of the power system by 56 MW, contributing to securing sufficient electricity supply to the provinces. With the substitution of 2 million compact fluorescent bulbs for lighting unseasonable dragon fruit plantation in three provinces as mentioned above, about 54,523 MWh can be saved every year, which is equivalent to more than VND 82 billion.
Further substitution of 4 million compact fluorescent lamps
In 2014, EVN organized a ceremony to launch a program for replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps in Phan Thiet city, Binh Thuan province. At the launching ceremony, power companies signed cooperation agreements with the provincial youth unions, farmer associations of three provinces Binh Thuan, Long an, Tien Giang to realize the program with a lot of financial incentives.
To effectively realize the programs, financial incentive policies have been introduced, including monetarily assisting VND 1000 per compact lamp for organizations who participate in advertising and introducing the program; giving farmers free of charge two lamp caps per compact fluorescent lamp, equivalent to VND 3,000; sending workers at no cost to replace incandescent light bulbs and installing safe lamp caps free of charge, equivalent to VND 1,500 / lamp.
In particular, in order to encourage farmers to substitute compact fluorescent lamps, the program offers a policy of receiving used incandescent light bulbs with VND 4,000 per bulb. In parallel, compact fluorescent lamp suppliers give 10% discount on the market price (VND 33,500) and apply deferred payment policy.
Although currently many households still hesitate to substitute compact fluorescent lamps because compact fluorescent lamps cost more expensive than incandescent light bulbs, which lead to considerably high initial investment cost. Mr. Tran Viet Nguyen, Deputy Director of Business Department of Vietnam Electricity views that at present approximately 4 million incandescent light bulbs are being used in dragon fruit planting areas in the three provinces. Therefore, in order to entirely substitute 4 million compact fluorescent lamps, EVN suggests that suppliers should continue offering 10% discount for farmers. EVN and EVNSPC will intensity motivating dragon fruit growers to shift to energy efficient products with the view to mitigating the power shortage situation in the South, and ensuring the energy security of the country.
Saving investment cost of power network
According to EVNSPC, replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps shall enable the power sector to save investment cost of power generation and network development, facilitating investments in other urgent projects. In particular, if the average investment cost of power generation is estimated at USD 1.2 million per MW (equal to VND 26.5 billion), a value equivalent to USD 67 million (about VND 1,475 billion) can be gained owing to investment pressure relief or power projects’ progress rescheduling. Thanks to rescheduling 110 kV substation and 22 kV power line projects, the saving amount will be VND 5 billion each year.