HCMC – The south-central province of Ninh Thuan has written to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vietnam Electricity (EVN) proposing mobilizing the capacity of the 450MW solar energy plant in Thuan Nam District without an electricity price mechanism.
The investor of the solar energy plant has built a 500KV substation and a 500KV grid stretching from Thuan Nam to Vinh Tan with a total cost of VND2,000 billion, which aim to release the capacity of renewable energy projects in the region.
According to the investor, construction costs will be made up by revenue from exploiting the total capacity of the 450 MW solar energy plant.
However, in the past time, the solar power project has been deflated by the capacity without electricity price mechanism and its compliance with the dispatching order of the National Load Dispatch Center. As a result, the plant’s mobilized capacity could not reach the approved design capacity.
At the same time, the investor has to incur the transmission costs for renewable energy projects in Ninh Thuan province.
The Electric–Power Trading Company under Electricity Vietnam had a dispatch on August 31 to announce ceasing the exploitation of the capacity without electricity price mechanism of the 450MW solar energy plant from September 1.
According to a representative of the Ninh Thuan People’s Committee, the suspension of capacity mobilization by EVN has not complied with the official dispatch of the prime minister and the power trading agreement between the investor and EVN.
Such a unilateral termination of EVN violated the parties’ power trading agreement provisions, causing a power redundancy and serious losses for the investor and the provincial budget, added the representative.
To avoid the risk of bankruptcy facing the enterprise and to increase the provincial budget, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and EVN were asked to continue recording and mobilizing the remaining capacity of the project and, at the same time, prioritizing exploiting the 450MW solar power plant.
The solar power plant, which covers more than 557 ha in Phuoc Minh commune, Thuan Nam district, is expected to produce more than 1 billion kWh from renewable sources yearly.
