Hot waves drive up power consumption in Vietnam to new record high

Scorching weather across Vietnam over the past days has driven up power consumption in the country to a fresh record high. 

Power volume consumed on May 18, 2019 reached 756.9 million kWh following hot waves nationwide, mostly in the north and central regions, the government said on its website. 



On May 17, 2019, the consumed power volume was 755 million kWh, beating the highest figure of 725 million kWh on July 3, 2018. 



In terms of power capacity, the maximum power output or peak power output (Pmax) hit 36,006 MW, the highest-ever capacity in Vietnam, the government portal quoted Vu Xuan Khu, deputy head of the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC) under Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), as saying. 



Khu said that Pmax recently surpassed the figure in the last summer.  



Similarly, Pmax came up 35,912 MW on May 17, 2019, and 35,703 MW on April 24, 2019 while Pmax last year was at 35,118 MW on July 3, 2018. 



EVN under pressure of supplying enough power



In April, the country’s total consumed power volume hit 74.35 billion kWh, up 11% on year. 



Khu predicted that the consumed volume would be higher during this summer, especially in June, pushing Pmax to 37,000-39,000 MW, up 11-14% on year. 



To have enough power for the national consumption, the NLDC has mobilized power from different sources since April and nearly 100 solar power projects would be connected to the national grid before the end of June, Deputy General Director of EVN Ngo Son Hai told local media. 



In addition, EVN would cooperate with PetroVietnam Power Corporation and Vinacomin Power Corporation to utilize power from hydropower, coal-fired, gas-fueled, and diesel-fueled power plants to feed the economy, Hai said.