HCM CITY (VNS0— Despite Electricity of Viet Nam’s recent promise to mobilise power from thermal plants to ensure stable supply in the dry season, many parts of HCM City have been suffering power outages in recent weeks.
Residents in the communes of Vinh Loc A and Vinh Loc B in Binh Chanh District have suffered frequent cuts.
Phan Cong Vinh, Deputy Director of the Binh Chanh Power Co, said: “All cooling appliances like fans and air-conditioners were put into use, causing a spike in power consumption and sudden outages.” Besides, as soon as people return home from work in the evening, they switch on electric water pumps, causing power consumption to skyrocket, he said, explaining that the pump engines consume four times as much power as air-conditioners.
In the last two weeks, power consumption in Binh Chanh District was up by 14 per cent from early March.
In the same period it has risen 15 per cent in Districts 4 and 7, and calls from residents to electricity companies to complain about power failures increased by nearly 80 per cent.
Do Duy Quang, director of the Tan Phu Power Co, said consumption of electricity in Tan Phu District increased by 17 per cent and complaint calls by 100 per cent.
According to the HCM City Power Co (EVNHCMC), despite the sharp increase in power consumption to 58.5 million kWh on April 3, the city power grid has not been affected.
However, EVNHCMC has forecast demand to rise even further due to the prolonged hot weather in the next few weeks.
The company has urged users to save power, warning otherwise outages are “unavoidable.” At the office of the Binh Chanh Power Company, air-conditioners begin to operate at 9.00am and must be switched off at 3.30pm, and are always set at 26 degrees Celsius.
EVN said that its subsidiary, the National Power Transmission Corp, has begun operation of eight power projects in the first quarter to increase supply during the dry season.
In April, EVN will connect the first turbine of the Nghi Son Thermal Power Plant No 1 with the national grid and install a second turbine at the Ban Chat Hydro-power Plant so that it can be connected to the grid by May. —VNS
Đăng ký: VietNam News
