Trung Son Hydropower Plant ensures water supply and power generation in the dry season 2024-2025

Trung Son Hydropower Reservoir maintains minimum water level, ensuring water supply in dry season and power generation in peak hot season (May 2025).

Trung Son Hydropower Plant is located in Thanh Hoa and Son La provinces, with an installed capacity of 260MW, including 4 units, with an average annual electricity output of about 1 billion kWh. With a total reservoir capacity of up to 348.5 million m3, of which the regular flood prevention capacity is 112 million m3, Trung Son Hydropower Reservoir is one of the important projects not only in power generation but also in regulating water resources for people's lives, agricultural production, flood and drought prevention for the Ma River basin.

Since the beginning of the 2024-2025 dry season (starting from November 16, 2024), the plant has strictly implemented the regulations in the Inter-reservoir Operation Procedure on the Ma River Basin (Decision No. 214/QD-TTg dated February 13, 2018 of the Prime Minister ). In particular, maintaining the minimum reservoir water level and ensuring continuous flow to the downstream are given top priority to minimize the risk of water shortage for daily life, production and ecological environment in the downstream area.

To effectively achieve the dual goal of both stable power generation and ensuring water resources for downstream areas in volatile weather conditions, Trung Son Hydropower Plant has also proactively developed appropriate regulation plans according to each hydrological scenario. According to Decision No. 159/QD-BTNMT dated January 14, 2025 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on the water resource scenario in early 2025, the ENSO phenomenon is forecasted to be neutral in the first 6 months of the year. The total rainfall in the Ma River basin from January to June 2025 is forecasted to be approximately the average of many years, specifically: January and February 2025 will generally range from 15mm to 40mm; March 2025 will generally range from 40mm to 70mm, April 2025 will generally range from 70mm to 120mm; The average flow in May and June 2025 is between 180mm and 270mm; however, the actual flow tends to be 5-22% lower than the average for the period 2018-2024. This requires reservoir operators, especially Trung Son Hydropower Plant, to respond flexibly and promptly to balance power generation targets and ensure minimum flow for downstream areas.

According to the representative of Trung Son Hydropower Company Limited, in response to this reality, the plant has increased monitoring of the hydrological situation and rainfall in the area to promptly update, analyze and forecast the amount of water flowing into the reservoir. Along with that is close coordination with the Department of Water Resources Management (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), the Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thanh Hoa, and other reservoir operators on the Ma River system to develop appropriate water regulation plans for each period. Thanks to that, the plant can optimize water storage, proactively supply water and generate electricity, while minimizing the risk of serious water shortages downstream.

In 2025, Thanh Hoa province sets many growth targets associated with the requirement of ensuring energy security and sustainable water supply. In Plan No. 41/KH-UBND dated March 7, 2025 of the Provincial People's Committee on drought prevention, water shortage and saltwater intrusion, Trung Son Hydropower Plant is one of the units assigned the key role in ensuring upstream water resources for Quan Hoa, Ba Thuoc districts and the downstream area of ​​the Ma River, including Thanh Hoa City and the delta districts. In carrying out this task, the plant has proactively maintained the minimum reservoir water level according to the regulations of the Inter-reservoir Process in the Ma River Basin from the beginning of the dry season (the dry season from November 16, 2024 to July 14, 2025), ensuring the time and maintaining the regular and continuous flow downstream in accordance with the regulations of the Inter-reservoir Operation Process in the Ma River Basin.

From its operational experience over the past years, Trung Son Hydropower Plant has demonstrated the effectiveness of integrated water resource management in river basins, and is a typical model in harmonizing the benefits between power generation and ecological environment protection. This is also the foundation for Thanh Hoa to continue to sustainably exploit the benefits of the Ma River system, contributing to socio-economic development associated with long-term climate change adaptation.

In the coming time, along with maintaining safe and effective operation of the project, the unit will continue to propose solutions to improve forecasting capacity and apply digital technology in reservoir operation, thereby actively contributing to the goal of sustainable development, ensuring water security and energy security for the North Central region.

Article and photos: Tung Lam

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/thuy-dien-trung-son-bao-dam-cung-ung-nuoc-phat-dien-trong-mua-can-2024-2025-249351.htm