The meeting was held in person and online with the participation of NSMO leaders, representatives of specialized departments, regional power system dispatch centers; representatives of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting (KTTV); representatives of power generation units and renewable energy plants.
Heavy rain and high winds put pressure on the power system
Regarding the weather situation in 2025, Mr. Nguyen Van Huong, Head of Weather Forecast Department, National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting, said that the weather in the country has witnessed unprecedented abnormalities in recent months.
Mr. Nguyen Van Huong - Head of Weather Forecast Department - Hydrometeorological Forecasting Center (first on the right)
“In 2025 alone, the number of tropical storms and depressions reached 20, much higher than the average, indicating an unusual year of storms and rain,” said Mr. Huong.
Severe floods in 2025 have led to increased water levels in hydroelectric reservoirs, with many river basins recording record flood peaks compared to many years.
A representative of the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said: The Hydro-Meteorological Agency continuously recorded the historical value of water flow to hydroelectric reservoirs and on large river basins such as Gam River ( Tuyen Quang ), Chay River with a flow of more than 4,000m3/s, Ca River, rivers in the Da River basin and most recently on Ba River...
Due to the consecutive impacts of storms from the beginning of October 2025 until now, the number of reservoirs releasing water to regulate water continues to remain high, especially in early November 2025, the number of reservoirs releasing water increased to 82 - 91/122 reservoirs, with the total capacity of hydroelectric reservoirs releasing water increasing to 15,940 - 17,040 MW (out of a total of 19,600 MW of hydropower in the entire system), including many large reservoirs in the northern region that had to reopen their discharge gates such as Son La, Hoa Binh , Lai Chau (total capacity of hydroelectric reservoirs in the Da River range is ~ 5,760 MW).
According to NSMO representative, wind power capacity increased when the storm affected the mainland, the potential capacity reached ~ 3,400 - 4,000 MW, 3-4 times higher than the previous days.
“The difference between the Northern load between low and peak times can be up to 10,000 - 11,500 MW, and during peak hours it can increase/decrease by 2,500 - 2,800 MW within 30 - 40 minutes” - Mr. Pham Minh Duc - Deputy Head of the Dispatching Department, NSMO said.
Overview of the meeting
These factors have led to a serious overcapacity situation across the system. NSMO has been forced to adjust the mobilization of power plants, reducing the balance between renewable energy sources and hydropower sources that are discharging when the excess capacity is large.
However, according to Mr. Duc, the surplus situation occurs in a short period of time, locally due to overlapping factors, the load from the beginning of 2025 until now has only increased by an average of about 4%, much lower than the previous demand forecast.
The NSMO representative emphasized: “The uncertainty of the weather has significantly distorted traditional forecasting models. This is the main objective reason leading to the difference between the mobilization plan and the actual operation, causing difficulties for both the unit responsible for operating the power system, NSMO, and the power generation units. NSMO understands and shares the difficulties of the power generation units when having to reduce capacity mobilization, directly affecting the production and business efficiency of the unit.”
Need to share, coordinate smoothly and synchronously
Mr. Duc affirmed that, as the national power system dispatching unit, NSMO always aims to operate the power system to ensure the highest safety, stability and reliability. All power sources are mobilized in accordance with regulations, operating procedures and ensuring the principles of fairness and transparency throughout the system.
From the beginning of October 2025, implementing the direction of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in the Official Dispatches on proactively responding to storm No. 11 (MATMO), storm No. 12 (FENGSHEN) and storm No. 13 (KALMAEGI), focusing on safe operation of reservoirs, reasonable mobilization of power sources in the national power system, ensuring adequate power supply and reserve, promptly responding to unusual situations due to the impact of storms.
Mr. Pham Minh Duc - Deputy Head of Dispatching Department, NSMO (3rd from right)
NSMO has been coordinating with power generation units and grid management units to ensure absolute safety for the power system, safety of hydroelectric dams as well as to maximize the mobilization of renewable energy sources and hydroelectric power that are being discharged.
Possible solutions include: Close coordination with reservoir management and operation units and related units to ensure the safety of hydropower reservoir projects; reasonable calculation of coal-fired thermal power plants; daily start-up/stoppage of combined cycle gas turbines to ensure meeting peak load capacity; Maximizing the transmission capacity on interconnecting lines to release the capacity of power sources.
These measures have been and continue to be actively implemented to improve the situation, on the principle of strictly implementing current legal regulations, publicly and transparently disclosing information, ensuring safe, stable and secure operation of the hydropower reservoir system, and responding to natural disaster instability.
At the meeting, the power generation units and NSMO frankly discussed technical issues in the process of joint operation. Representatives of the power generation units acknowledged the efforts of NSMO in the past time, and expressed their desire to continue close coordination between the units in operating the power system and power plants, and to share detailed and regular information. In addition, the units also proposed solutions to improve the effectiveness of coordination between the parties, ensuring the mobilization of power plants' capacity at a reasonable rate on the basis of aiming at the highest common goal of operating the power system safely and stably, ensuring national energy security.
NSMO continues to closely coordinate with power generation units to ensure safe, transparent and fair capacity mobilization for the national power system.
The parties agreed that in an electricity system with a high proportion of renewable energy and strongly affected by climate change, coordination and risk sharing are mandatory.
In the coming time, to meet the double-digit economic growth target set by the Government, energy demand is forecast to increase rapidly, the pressure on the operation of the power system and the electricity market is huge and faces many challenges. There needs to be smooth coordination and willingness to share between NSMO and the Units to firmly ensure national energy security, meet the requirements of socio-economic development and industrialization and modernization of the country.
NSMO commits to continue to maintain a regular dialogue channel, listen to feedback from Power Generation Units to jointly find solutions for operating the power system as well as power plants in a safe and efficient manner. At the same time, NSMO also hopes that Power Generation Units will share the difficulties in operation with the ultimate priority being "Ensuring the safety of the National Power System" and absolutely comply with dispatch orders when the system is in an emergency/extremely emergency state that threatens the safety of power supply.
Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/phat-trien-nang-luong/nsmo-lam-viec-voi-cac-don-vi-phat-dien-ve-huy-dong-cong-suat.html
Comment (0)