Attending the conference were the leaders of the General Directorate of Energy, the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (Ministry of Industry and Trade), representatives of the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group and Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group. For the Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Mr. Pham Manh Thang, member of the Board of Directors, Mr. Ngo Son Hai, Vice President and leaders of the functional departments and subsidiaries attended the conference.
The report of the Electricity Regulatory Authority showed that, after 4 years of operation, the competitive generation market has achieved positive results. As of June 2016, there were 72 out of 115 power plants participating in the market transactions, with the total installed capacity of 16,719 MW, an increase of 2.3 times compared with the commencement of the market in July 2012.
Da Nhim – HamThuan – Da Mi Hydropower Joint Stock Company is one of the efficient players in the competitive generation market. – Photo: Huyen Thuong
The operation of the competitive generation market over the past months has contributed to increasing transparency and fairness in mobilizing the power sources through the bids of the power plants, ensuring power generation price to be set in connection with the rule of supply-demand, increase competitiveness among power generation units in the market and promote the power plants to be proactive in production and business improvement as well as cost reduction.
After the stage of competitive generation market, the paper operation of the competitive wholesale electricity market has also been performed from Jan 1, 2016, aimed at facilitating the Power Corporations to get used to new mechanisms, training and improving the quality of the human sources. Under the plan, for the period of 2017-2018, the wholesale electricity market will be operated in reality as pilot and operated officially from the year 2019.
Over the six months of paper operation of the competitive wholesale market, the Power Corporations has got used to the work of computation, settlement, begun to learn about power market regulations and power purchase agreements. The information technology infrastructure serving the power market at the Power Corporations could basically meet the requirements. The metering system with telecommunication at delivery points was completed. In particular, after 6 months of the paper operation, the Power Corporations has become aware of the importance of the load forecast and been actively studying and implementing the load forecast.
Recognizing the achievements of the competitive generation electricity market after 4 years of operation, particularly appreciating the role of the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam and EVN in more and more stably, safely and reliably operating the electricity market, Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong also stated some shortcomings that need to be fixed in the coming time when the competitive wholesale market is put into operation.
"The IT infrastructure needs to be developed more strongly in order to meet the requirements of the competitive wholesale electricity market. The Electricity Regulatory Authority shall continue to intensify surveillance and timely handle bottlenecks; at the same time require the non-EVN power plants and the new power plants joining the power market to be provided with SCADA system to connect to the load dispatch centers for better operation. In particular, in order for the wholesale electricity market to be operated efficiently, right from now, the Electricity Regulatory Authority needs to build a detailed plan for the period 2017-2018, which helps the involved parties to thoroughly know about and can operate it efficiently from 2019 onward," stressed Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong.
In addition, the Deputy Minister also requires the hydro power plants, besides efficiently participating in the power market, to comply with the regulations on inter-reservoir operation, ensure the flood control for the downstream areas. For the thermal power plants, the environmental protection will be paid attention to, especially to such large thermal power centers as Vinh Tan and Duyen Hai.