VN to purchase wind power from Laos: EVN

Wind turbines in Việt Nam’s Quảng Trị Province. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has submitted a document to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) regarding the proposal to import wind power from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) to Quảng Trị Province.

EVN urged the MoIT to review and submit to the Prime Minister the proposal to import electricity from the Trường Sơn Wind Power Plant, including additional planning for transmission lines. The purchase price for electricity from this project is US$6.95 cents/kWh, equivalent to about VNĐ1,700/kWh.

The MoIT confirmed it has received a document requesting feedback from relevant ministries and localities on the proposal to purchase wind power from the plant, with a capacity of 250MW, from Bolikhamsai Province in Laos to Việt Nam, as proposed by EVN.

According to the ministry, the plant is expected to start operation in the fourth quarter of 2025.

“To import electricity from this plant to Việt Nam, a new 220kV double-circuit transmission line will be constructed, with a length of 75km from the Trường Sơn Wind Power Plant’s 220kV substation connecting to the 220kV busbar at the Đô Lương 220kV substation in the central Nghệ An Province, Việt Nam,” said the MoIT in an official statement.

To meet the project completion schedule in 2025, the project’s investor, the Vietnam Laos Energy Investment and Development Corporation, has sent a document to EVN proposing to sell electricity from this project to Việt Nam. The investor suggests investing the entire grid connection project to connect the plant to the Việt Nam’s power system using the project’s funds.

In an earlier development, in a report to the MoIT, EVN stated that the governments of Laos and Việt Nam had agreed to import 1,000MW of electricity from Laos to Việt Nam by 2020. The imported electricity volume is expected to be around 3,000MW by 2025 and about 5,000MW by 2030. As of the end of October, the Prime Minister has approved the proposal to import electricity from various sources in Laos with a total capacity of 2,689MW.

“EVN has signed 19 power purchase agreements (PPA) to buy electricity from 26 Laotian power plants with a total capacity of 2,240MW. Among them, seven projects are commercially operational with a total capacity of 806MW, and it is expected that an additional 1,171MW can be put into operation by 2025,” according to the MoIT.

The report indicates that, so far, the total approved capacity of electricity sources in Laos that can be imported into Việt Nam and put into operation by 2025 is only about 1,977MW, much lower than the import scale stated in the memorandum of understanding. — VNS