Thanh made the request during a meeting on September 29 to review the 54 power projects under preparation or construction within the revised 7th Power Development Plan with a total capacity of 60,000 megawatts.
According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An, among the 54 projects, the national utility group EVN is responsible for 10 projects with 8,240 megawatts, PVN is charged with 9 projects with 8,100 megawatts, and Vinacomin has undertaken 4 projects with 2,730 megawatts.
There are 14 projects totalling 19,530 megawatts being implemented under the build-operate-transfer model as well as another 14 at 17,092 megawatts by independent power producers, while 3 projects at 4,200 megawatts have not seen any investors.
As the construction of new power sources will take a long time, two were solutions suggested: importing electricity, and accelerating the piloting of the direct electricity purchase mechanism.
Speaking at the conference, Deputy PM Le Van Thanh recognised the efforts of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), along with EVN, PVN and Vinacomin, in putting three power plants into operation with a total capacity of 4,600 megawatts.
However, he noted that some key power projects are lagging behind schedule while problems remain in the power source structure and power distribution by region.
He demanded that power shortages not be allowed to happen and asked the MOIT to direct the relevant companies to promptly address the difficulties facing current projects and shorten the preparation time so that work can start on more projects between now and 2025.
