Electricity contributes to the development of Phu Quoc pearl island

Cross-ocean power cable

Previously, electricity was one of the difficult problems of Phu Quoc island district. People's lives and business production faced many obstacles when they had to use electricity to run high-cost diesel generators.

In 2002, Electricity Company 2 (now Southern Power Corporation) took over the diesel plant and power grid on Phu Quoc Island from Kien Giang Province. With continuous efforts, on February 2, 2014, Southern Power Corporation (EVNSPC) officially energized and put into operation the 110kV Ha Tien - Phu Quoc undersea cable project with a capacity of transmitting up to 131MVA. This is the longest undersea cable project in Southeast Asia, with a total investment of more than 2,300 billion VND to bring national grid electricity to the island, completely replacing diesel power on the island.

*Underground cable brings electricity to the island in February 2014. Photo: EVN*

At the time of receiving Phu Quoc power grid in 2002, the power system on the island only consisted of 41km of medium voltage lines, 44km of low voltage lines, 1 diesel power station with a capacity of about 3MW used to supply electricity to 4,252 customers. Southern Power Corporation, PC Kien Giang has continuously invested in synchronous power source and grid systems on the island with a total capital of more than 7,080 billion VND. Up to now, the scale of medium-voltage and low-voltage lines and distribution transformer stations has increased nearly 100 times, ensuring electricity for a 10.5-fold increase in the number of customers.

According to EVNSPC data, Phu Quoc's electricity load grew by an average of 17% per year in the 2004-2010 period; 27% per year in the 2010-2020 period; and 14% per year in the 2020-2023 period. Phu Quoc is the area with the fastest growing electricity load in Kien Giang province, and is also the area with the highest proportion of commercial and service customers.

"Transform" thanks to safe and stable power source

It can be said that investment projects in the construction of power works have helped people and businesses on Phu Quoc island district in the past 10 years to "transform" positively thanks to a safe and stable power source; contributing significantly to attracting investment, developing tourism and the marine economy. Notably, since the time of grid electricity, the electricity price on the pearl island has also returned to an average level equivalent to that on the mainland, down nearly 50% compared to the time when there was no national grid electricity.

The tourism industry on Phu Quoc Island has also seen remarkable growth since the national grid was installed. According to data from the Kien Giang Provincial Department of Tourism, one year after "electricity came to the island", in 2015, the island welcomed 913,000 visitors; in 2016, the number of visitors to the island continued to increase to 1.5 million; in 2017, it doubled to nearly 3 million; in 2018, it welcomed over 4 million and in 2019, it increased to over 5.1 million. After the interruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, from January 2023 to October 2023, nearly 5.2 million visitors came to the island. To date, there are many international flights flying directly to Phu Quoc with a frequency of 2-4 flights per week.

To meet the rapidly increasing electricity demand of the island, EVNSPC has increased the capacity of transformer stations and continued to invest in many power projects. Among them, the 220kV Kien Binh - Phu Quoc line with a total investment of up to VND 2,212 billion is worth mentioning, aiming to increase the power supply. After energizing, the prolonged overload situation on the Phu Quoc island distribution grid has been basically resolved, and the reliability of power supply has also been increasingly improved.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, Vietnam Economic Institute, member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Group, "Bringing grid electricity to Phu Quoc Island is extremely difficult, but with the outstanding efforts of the electricity industry, Phu Quoc people have national grid electricity to use. From there, it creates momentum for the island district to develop, improve competitiveness and attract strong investment in the area, especially tourism and marine economy. Bringing grid electricity to Phu Quoc Island is a testament to turning challenges into opportunities to create breakthroughs that need to be encouraged in the future".

At the conference summarizing Decision No. 178/2004/QD-TTg on the overall development of Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province to 2010 and vision to 2020; experts said that after 20 years of implementing Decision No. 178, Phu Quoc has basically achieved the set goals, such as rapid growth rate; positive economic structure shift; impressive investment attraction; infrastructure (electricity system, roads...) basically ensuring quality... It can be seen that Decision No. 178 of the Prime Minister plays the role of a compass, paving the way and orienting the development of Phu Quoc pearl island.

Accordingly, the development of Phu Quoc is not the sole responsibility of Kien Giang or Phu Quoc but the common responsibility of the whole country with the spirit of sharing and caring. To continue to enhance and develop the potential of Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province needs to focus on 3 issues to continue developing Phu Quoc Island, which are water, electricity and waves. In particular, it is necessary to ensure electricity supply in parallel with the process of socio-economic development.

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