HCMC – The Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam under the Ministry of Industry and Trade on November 27 revoked the license of the Thuong Nhat hydropower project in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue for violations.
On November 16, the ministry established a team to inspect the project’s compliance with regulations on reservoir management and natural disaster prevention and control. Three days later, the inspection team reported violations at the project, the local media reported.
The Central Hydro Power Joint Stock Company, which is in charge of developing and operating the plant, has not operated a reservoir of the project in line with the process approved by the competent agencies.
The project has not been completed, so it was not allowed to store water for operation. However, the plant was found to have repeatedly breached the Thua Thien-Hue government’s water storage ban in the rainy and flooding season, especially during storms Molave and Vamco.
The local authorities then asked the plant to discharge water through five spillway gates following storm Molave. After that, the plant continued to store water.
According to the inspection team, the Central Hydro Power Joint Stock Company failed to comply with the Electricity Law, a law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Electricity Law, documents guiding the implementation of these laws and other relevant regulations.
On November 25, the Industrial Safety Techniques and Environment Agency fined the Central Hydro Power Joint Stock Company VND130 million for its violations.
The Thuong Nhat hydropower project, which requires an investment of VND341 billion, was planned to have a capacity of 11 megawatts. Its reservoir has a capacity of 17 million cubic meters.
