Vietnam lacks a million tons of coal for power production

Vietnam’s main coal suppliers Vinacomin and Dong Bac Corp were obliged to provide 4.39 million tons to utility firm Vietnam Electricity (EVN) for power production in June and July, but so far they are 1.64 million tons short.

Since a unit of EVN has been able to purchase 600,000 tons from other sources, the amount of coal needed for EVN to operate its thermal power plants is 600,000 tons this month and 400,000 next.

This amount is even more necessary since hydropower plants in the north are at record low water levels, which means thermal power plants will need to run at full capacity, EVN CEO Tran Dinh Nhat said at a meeting on June 12.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has recently said that five major hydropower plants in the north were shut down this month, creating a shortage of 5,000 megawatts of power for northern Vietnam.

Water levels will likely remain low in the next 10 days, according to weather forecasts.

Load shedding has been frequent in different northern areas in the last several weeks, disrupting daily life and manufacturing.