Minister of Industry and Trade Mr. Tran Tuan Anh delivered his keynote address in the Conference - Photo: Dinh Dung
The Conference on safe and effective operation of hydropower reservoirs was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade on March 17, 2017 in Da Nang city. According to Minister Tran Tuan Anh, hydropower plants create plenty of synergic benefits, because they not only play a significant role in the national energy security, hydropower reservoirs with the total volume of around 56 billion m3, accounting for 86% of the total reservoir volume all over the country, significantly contribute to flood prevention, mitigation and decelerating for downstream areas. In dry seasons, these reservoirs provide water to downstream areas and contribute to food security assurance, social safety and security.
On the other hand, hydropower reservoirs imply potential dangers to dams’ downstream areas if hydropower plants are in unsafe operation. Therefore, regular oversights, inspections and controls by the competent authorities are crucial, as well as legal regulations on hydropower management and operation are required to be strictly followed by dam owners.
Hydropower plants under EVN’s management properly observes hydropower reservoir operation procedures - Photo: Huyen Thuong
The small hydropower plant development master plan displays quite many defects in quality since projects are mainly situated in places with difficult or especially difficult socio-economic conditions, where input documents for planning establishment are insufficient and site investigation conditions are unfavorable, etc. In addition, reviews and verifications of technical designs are undertaken by investors themselves with certain opinions of state authorities in the basic design stage, the management, examination and control of project quality are not really thoroughly done. Inspection and supervision activities of the local authorities over project implementation are not really effective since their manpower and expertise are inadequate.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade together with other governmental bodies has reviewed and agreed to exclude from the master plan 8 tier hydropower projects with the total capacity of 655 MW, and 463 small hydropower projects with the total installed capacity of more than 1,404 MW, at the same time MOIT has not considered planning 213 potential sites for hydropower development (349.61 MW) due to their considerably adverse environmental and social impacts, low efficiency, or effects on other prioritized plans/projects.
The newly promulgated regulation documents on project quality management properly address the existing deficiencies and create a legal basis for the project owners’ management and compliance as well as the competent authorities’ inspections, supervisions and handlings. The recent actual inspections show that hydropower plants, particularly big hydropower plants have well performed hydropower reservoir operation procedures on the basis of good coordination with the local authorities.
At the Conference, participants from Vietnam Electricity, hydropower companies, local authorities delivered their papers on such issues as roles and benefits of hydropower; dam operation and dam safety; difficulties and obstacles in operation of reservoirs, flood corridors; flood inundation mapping and flood prevention plans for downstream areas; hydro-meteorological observations; coordination activities; reporting and communication activities during reservoir operation to help flood prevention for downstream areas, etc.
This Conference is an opportunity for assessing and drawing lessons and experiences on hydropower management over the past time, based on which solutions and recommendations are put forward to revise or supplement the current legal regulations with a view to safe and effective management and operation of hydropower plants in the coming time.