According to the Institute of Energy (Ministry of Industry and Trade), Vietnam’s power system is one of the power systems in the world with the highest growth rate. However, the World Bank asserts, the electricity consumption per capita in Vietnam is still lower than the world average.
Assessing the current status of electricity consumption in Vietnam, the Institute of Energy, the author of the Power Development Planning VIII (PDP VIII) informed that the sale electricity output in the whole country in 2020 was 216.83 billion kWh, increased of 2.53 times compared to 2010 (85.6 billion kWh), corresponding to the average growth rate of 9.7%/year for the period 2011 – 2020, although in 2020 due Covid-19 pandemic the growth rate was only 3.4% the lowest in the recent decade.
The maximum capacity growth rate (Pmax) of the whole national power system and regional systems was similar (9.6%) to the growth of sale electricity output. In 2020, Pmax of the national power system reached 38,617 MW, increased for only nearly 400 MW compared to 2019.
Through Pmax increase in different regions, the Institute of Energy shows that Pmax in the Northern system has started to exceed Pmax in the Southern system since 2015 (in 2020, Pmax of the North reached 19,243 MW, higher Pmax of the South about 2587 MW), although the sale electricity output of the South was still 3% higher than the North.
Regarding the Central power system, the maximal power capacity of this region in 2020 reached only 3802 MW, about 9.2% of the whole country, although the center is the hydropower center of the country, so in the water season, the most of hydropower generation of the center is transmitted to the south.
The electricity consumption per capita of Vietnam in 2020 was 2,223 kWh/person, increased by 2.26 times compared to that in 2010, lower than the world average in 2019 as 3,131kWh/person.
The elasticity factor of electricity growth rate per GDP growth rate in Vietnam has a strong decrease trend from 2.17 in period 2001-2010 to 1.84 in 2011- 2015 and 1.44 in 2016 – 2020, although it is still higher compared to that in the region and the world. The electricity intercity of Vietnam also is still rather high as about 1049 kWh/1000USD (2010 comparison price) in 2020, while these indexes in China, Malaysia and Thailand in 2017 respectively were 632 kWh/1000 USD, 415 kWh/1000USD and 475 kWh/1000USD.
For decreasing the electricity elasticity and intensity of Vietnam, the Institute of Energy has set the urgent requirement to improve electricity saving and efficient use in socio-economic development in the coming time./.
Source:Nangluongvietnam
