Need for electricity development policy in island areas

BTO-Continuing the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, this afternoon, October 26, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Law on Electricity (amended). Group 15 includes the National Assembly delegations of the provinces: Binh Thuan, Yen Bai, Quang Tri, Binh Phuoc.

Electricity in the island region has not met the demand.

Participating in the discussion, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan province Nguyen Huu Thong expressed agreement with many contents of the draft Law.

Comments on Article 5 on the State's policy on electricity development; specifically, Clause 3 of the draft law stipulates that the policies on electricity development in rural areas, ethnic minorities, mountainous areas, border areas, islands and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions are appropriate. However, according to delegate Nguyen Huu Thong, in areas such as islands, the State's investment in electricity sources to provide electricity for people's lives and production and business has not met the demand. For example, in Phu Quy island district, Binh Thuan province. The electricity system on Phu Quy island is an independent operating system, not connected to the national electricity system. Electricity is supplied from diesel, wind and solar energy sources invested by the State, with a total capacity of 16.68 MW; of which the main diesel power source has a capacity of 10 MW with 13 modern generators, combined with 6 MW wind power and 0.68 MW solar energy.

Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Binh Thuan Province Nguyen Huu Thong discussed at the Group this afternoon, October 26.

Also according to delegate Nguyen Huu Thong, along with the impressive growth of tourism, the load situation increased very rapidly, the pressure on power sources was very large, especially in the hot season when the load increased, the wind speed was low, so wind turbines could not participate in power generation, and had to operate mainly with diesel engines. High operating costs led to quite large annual losses, specifically in 2023, revenue was 62.63 billion VND (commercial electricity 30,041,199 kWh, average electricity price 2,084.14 VND/kWh, reactive power cost 0.02 billion VND) with a cost of 7,556.76 VND/kWh corresponding to a cost of 232.34 billion VND, so a loss of 169.71 billion VND had to be compensated.

Therefore, delegate Nguyen Huu Thong proposed that there should be a policy allowing people on the islands to install rooftop solar power that is linked and generates excess capacity to the grid. On islands with independent power systems, not connected to the national power system, the excess capacity will be purchased at a price equal to the ceiling price (highest price) of ground-mounted solar power plants (VND 1,184.90/kWh) in the electricity generation price frame (excluding value added tax) applied to transitional solar and wind power plants issued under Decision No. 21/QD-BCT dated January 7, 2023 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on promulgating the electricity generation price frame for transitional solar and wind power plants. If this mechanism is applied to Phu Quy island, for every 1 MWp, customers installing rooftop solar power will save VND 12,031 billion/year in diesel generation costs. At the same time, there needs to be a mechanism for electricity purchase prices to encourage the development of rooftop solar power systems with on-site battery storage investment.

B added some projects with extended time

Discuss the progress of power source projects in Article 16 and the mechanism for handling delayed power source projects in Article 17; specifically, Clause 3, Article 16 of the draft Law stipulates: "The progress of power source project implementation is allowed to be adjusted according to the provisions of law on investment, public investment, investment under the public-private partnership method and the conditions specified in the business investment project contract". Clause 2, Article 17 of the draft Law stipulates: “The handling of power source projects that are behind schedule and not invested in under the public-private partnership or public investment method shall be as follows: "a) Power source projects that are behind schedule for more than 06 months according to one of the milestones specified in Clause 1, Article 16 of this Law and are not allowed to adjust the progress according to the provisions of the law on investment shall be subject to administrative sanctions. The Government shall specify this point in detail; b) Power source projects that are behind schedule for more than 12 months according to one of the milestones specified in Clause 1, Article 16 of this Law and are not allowed to adjust the progress according to the provisions of the law on investment and have been subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of Point a of this Clause shall be subject to administrative sanctions according to the provisions of the law on investment...."

According to delegate Nguyen Huu Thong, the above regulation is not really suitable, because in reality there are many cases where the procedures take longer. Therefore, the delegate proposed to amend and supplement some cases where the time is extended compared to the above regulation.

Regarding the regulations on approving investment policies for power projects in Article 19; Point a, Clause 2 stipulates: “a) The People's Committee at the provincial level is responsible for approving the list of medium-voltage and low-voltage power grid investment projects that need investment in the area based on proposals from power units and investors, ensuring that they do not exceed the approved volume in the source and grid development plan in the provincial planning;”. The delegate proposed to remove the phrase "low voltage" because according to the provisions of Point d, Clause 3, Article 10 of the draft Law, the low-voltage grid is not within the scope of the provincial Power Development Plan, source and grid development plan.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/can-co-chinh-sach-phat-trien-dien-luc-vung-hai-dao-125188.html