Electricity for growth - a particularly urgent task!

Currently, the Party and State are focusing on leading, directing, and organizing the implementation of the institutional reform task to remove the obstacles. This is the basis for the Electricity industry to expect that the difficulties will soon be resolved, ensuring a growth scenario to serve the economy.

Construction site of Quang Trach 1 Thermal Power Plant ( Quang Binh province). Photo: EVN

Powerful movements

2025 is considered the year of "acceleration and breakthrough" with the target of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth striving to reach 8% or more in 2025, creating momentum for continuous "double-digit" growth in the period 2026-2031, preparing the country to confidently enter a new era. To achieve the above goal, electricity plays a particularly important role, because this is a special commodity product, "the input of all inputs" of the economy .

According to Deputy Director of the Electricity Department ( Ministry of Industry and Trade ) Doan Ngoc Duong, electricity demand is forecast to increase by about 12%. Based on such a management scenario, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed agencies and enterprises in the electricity sector to simultaneously implement a group of solutions to ensure electricity supply. In the first 4 months of 2025, electricity supply for production and business needs as well as people's lives has been ensured.

“We believe that the electricity supply in 2025 will be guaranteed according to the forecast scenarios. However, extreme cases may still occur, such as sudden load growth or extreme weather, the water flow in hydroelectric reservoirs may be lower than the average of many years or the hot weather may last longer, coinciding with some power generators that may have problems due to continuous full load operation. In such situations, the units will have response plans to ensure the security and safety of electricity supply,” said Mr. Doan Ngoc Duong.

According to Director of the Center for Energy Research and Green Growth, Energy Market (Ministry of Industry and Trade) Ha Dang Son, the removal of institutional obstacles is having positive movements, especially after the Government simultaneously issued 3 important decrees on March 3, 2025, including Decree 56/2025/ND-CP on Power Development Planning; Decree 57/2025/ND-CP regulating the mechanism for direct electricity purchase and sale between renewable energy power generation units and large electricity users; Decree 58/2025/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Electricity Law on the development of renewable energy and new energy power.

Then, on April 15, under the direction of the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade advised the Prime Minister to issue Decision No. 768/QD-TTg approving the Adjustment of the National Power Development Plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050 (Power Plan VIII). Power Plan VIII was adjusted based on the emergence of new factors including the economic growth target of over 8% and the policy of continuing to invest in Ninh Thuan nuclear power.

Throughout the Power Plan VIII is the spirit of promoting and encouraging the diversification of investment components. Instead of providing a list of power projects for 2025-2030 in the Plan Implementation Plan as before, in the adjusted Power Plan VIII, based on coordination with localities, ministries, and branches, the Ministry of Industry and Trade provides a list of energy projects to call for socialized investment and the authority to implement is the People's Committees of provinces and cities. Based on the list, the announcement and invitation to bid for investment in these energy projects will be carried out in accordance with the bidding regulations on investment and land.

Most recently, the Politburo issued Resolution 68-NQ/TU on private economic development, continuing to create a very important turning point. The Resolution clearly states the tasks of improving the investment and business environment, ensuring transparency, openness, and accessibility; overcoming the lack of consistency in policy implementation, between the central and local levels, and between ministries and branches; testing special mechanism models for new fields such as renewable energy, nuclear power, hydrogen power, etc.; establishing clear payment mechanisms, contracts, and selling prices, not criminalizing economic and investment relations, and increasing access to capital for power projects.

Building enforcement discipline

According to Phan Duc Hieu, member of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, the revised Electricity Law will take effect from February 1, 2025 with many new points and strong policies, including solutions to promote the participation of the private economic sector. If the law opens up opportunities and creates favorable conditions for the development of the private economic sector, the Resolution 68-NQ/TU of the Politburo, which has just been issued, is a measure to create a more favorable business and investment environment for this sector in accessing resources such as land, capital, and human resources.

“If Resolution 68-NQ/TU is fully and properly implemented, major problems in the electricity industry will gradually be resolved in a fundamental and sustainable manner,” affirmed Director of the Center for Energy Research and Green Growth, Energy Market Ha Dang Son.

Faced with the very clear challenges in 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has also conducted research and proposed different policy scenarios. However, no scenario can cover all possible risks. The current reality is that our electricity supply infrastructure is still weak and inadequate. In extreme situations, the risk of power shortages is entirely possible. Therefore, fundamental solutions, such as using electricity economically and efficiently, are extremely important.

And this is not just a story for 2025. Looking further into the 2026-2030 period, we can see that the most important thing now is to ensure discipline in implementation, from the content, roadmap to the investment portfolio of power sources and grids as defined in the adjusted Power Plan VIII. If not implemented seriously, on schedule and closely monitored, any policy-making efforts will find it difficult to be effective in practice.

“If we cannot do that and build strong enough mechanisms to attract private investment, it will be very difficult to realize the goals set out in the revised Power Plan VIII. Everyone understands that investment resources from the state-owned enterprise sector are limited, while most of the investment demand depends on the private sector. If we cannot create the right motivation and mechanisms for the private sector to confidently invest, the risk of not achieving the goals in implementing the plan is completely real,” said Mr. Ha Dang Son.

Faced with the positive signals being created in terms of institutions and policies, energy experts believe that it is necessary to maintain this development momentum, in line with the spirit that the Prime Minister has repeatedly stated: "only discuss action, no retreat". It is not only a matter of policy, but also the building of an "implementation discipline" so that all commitments are materialized with results.

Learning from the experience of the countries that have gone before, although the proportion of renewable energy is high, when there is a lack of synchronization in the transmission grid and ancillary services, serious incidents can still occur. Energy experts say that the lesson for Vietnam is that green transition requires a solid and cautious roadmap. At the same time, there must be a full scientific assessment, and the target should not be pursued hastily. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has now conducted many fundamental studies and received support from international partners; this is a good condition for sustainable energy policy planning.

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Accelerating key power source and grid projects

Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) is making efforts to implement key power source and grid projects to ensure sufficient electricity to serve economic growth of 8% in 2025 and double digits in the coming years, while serving people's needs in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction.

In the first 4 months of 2025, the Group and its units have started 40 projects and completed energizing 102 grid projects from 110kV to 500kV. In addition, 5 affiliated power corporations have completed a series of 110kV grid projects in many localities across the country, especially in the North, to meet the sudden increase in load demand during the hot season.

Meanwhile, EVN is also focusing on promoting power source projects. Of which, the Hoa Binh Hydropower Plant Expansion Project has completed over 80% of the construction volume; the Tri An Hydropower Plant Expansion is expected to start construction in June 2025...

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/dien-cho-tang-truong-nhiem-vu-dac-biet-cap-bach-703847.html