Ensuring safety of hydroelectric projects during the rainy and stormy season

QTO - With increasingly complex and extreme weather conditions, ensuring the safety of hydropower projects, especially dams and reservoirs, is becoming more urgent. This is not only a task to effectively exploit electricity, but more importantly, to protect the lives and property of people in downstream areas and related infrastructure systems.

La Trong Hydropower Plant is completing the final stages to prepare for operation at the end of August 2025 - Photo: HC

To date, the province has 12 hydropower projects put into operation, with a total capacity of 181.5 MW. Talking to reporters, Head of the Energy Management Department, Department of Industry and Trade Nguyen Duc Tung said: “In order to strengthen disaster prevention and control (PCTT) and ensure the safety of hydropower projects during the 2025 storm season, from the beginning of the year, the Department of Industry and Trade has sent directives to units managing and operating dams and hydropower plants in the province.

Accordingly, the Department of Industry and Trade requires hydropower companies in the area to arrange forces on duty 24/7 during the rainy season to closely monitor weather conditions, reservoir water levels and construction safety. When releasing floodwaters, operating units must promptly notify local authorities and people in downstream areas in accordance with regulations to proactively respond.

Before the 2025 storm season, the Department of Industry and Trade organized a team to inspect the actual construction and dams and recorded that the dam owners had basically strictly implemented the work of ensuring dam safety and managing and operating the reservoir in accordance with regulations.

Equipment serving dam operations is periodically maintained, repaired and tested to ensure stable operation and readiness to respond to floods. To date, 100% of operating hydropower projects have completed the construction of downstream flood maps, contributing to improving on-site disaster prevention and control capacity, ensuring safety for people and works.

Quang Tri Irrigation-Hydropower Project (Huong Phung Commune and Khe Sanh Commune) is managed and operated by Quang Tri Hydropower Company with a capacity of 64MW. The project has the function of regulating and supplementing irrigation water for downstream areas, providing domestic water, reducing floods for Quang Tri Delta; supplying electricity to the national grid to serve socio -economic development.

To receive, regulate and cut off floods completely downstream, not creating sudden flows when the amount of rain and floods continues to increase, the company always coordinates with the Provincial Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue to be ready to operate and regulate the reservoir according to the process approved by the Provincial People's Committee.

“ Quang Tri Hydropower Company has also applied technology application software to support the management and safe and effective operation of reservoirs and dams. The policy of the leadership of hydropower units is to proactively raise vigilance and be ready to respond to all natural disasters to ensure the safety of people in the downstream areas as well as effectively serve production activities in the area,” said Director of Quang Tri Hydropower Company Nguyen Thanh Hung.

In addition to 12 hydropower projects that have been put into operation, La Trong Hydropower Plant (Dan Hoa Commune), invested by Truong Thinh Hydropower Company, is currently completing the final stages to prepare for operation at the end of August 2025. Along with focusing on ensuring technical parameters, one of the factors that the plant's leaders pay special attention to is ensuring the safety of the project when the rainy and stormy season comes. Mr. Huynh Bao Son, Commander of La Trong Hydropower Plant shared: "Regarding the safety of the hydropower dam, we have many plans suitable for the situation. The unit has an alarm siren, notifying people within a 3km radius when the water rises, floods come as well as when the unit releases the dam...".

Dam safety is not only a technical requirement of the electricity industry but also a social responsibility of operating units, a vital requirement in disaster prevention and control and search and rescue work in the locality. Therefore, in addition to the initiative of hydropower plants, authorities at all levels, functional forces and people also need to be regularly updated with information, participate in community monitoring, and proactively coordinate responses in all situations.

Hien Chi

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/xa-hoi/202508/bao-dam-an-toan-cong-trinh-thuy-dien-trong-mua-mua-bao-03a1ad5/