Power cuts will start on Feb. 15 across Vietnam in a bid to copewith the country's electricity crisis, the Ministry of Industry andTrade said.
"Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) would startreducing power supplies from Feb. 15 but would leave it to provincialelectricity regulators to decide where and when to cut the power," saidthe ministry's Science and Technology Department Deputy Director PhuongHoang Kim.
The demand for electricity was forecast to riseby 18 percent against last year while electricity production would bedown by 14 percent.
"This year the country will face a terrible shortage of electricity," Kim said.
The dry season was already taking its toll. EVN had reported that majorreservoirs in the north were close to empty and that it had begunreleasing water on Feb. 8 to save crops for the second and also the lasttime this dry season.
Two thirds of the rice crop in thenorth and north-centre of the nation depended on water from thisrelease, which would last until Feb. 14.
To make mattersworse, Kim said, many thermoelectricity projects were behind schedulemaking it all the more necessary to conserve electricity.
"All other measures, such as increasing power supplies, require more time. They cannot be done within one year," Kim said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged the nation to saveelectricity in the face of such a severe power shortage.
State offices should take the lead by tightening up regulations onelectricity use while factories and major power consumers must work outplans to save power by at least 1 percent, Dung said.
This sector was very important given that it consumed 10 percent of sold electricity.
The Prime Minister also required EVN to improve rural power grids toreduce transmission losses from the current 20 percent to 15 percent bythe end of this year and 10 percent within the next 4 years./.
"Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) would startreducing power supplies from Feb. 15 but would leave it to provincialelectricity regulators to decide where and when to cut the power," saidthe ministry's Science and Technology Department Deputy Director PhuongHoang Kim.
The demand for electricity was forecast to riseby 18 percent against last year while electricity production would bedown by 14 percent.
"This year the country will face a terrible shortage of electricity," Kim said.
The dry season was already taking its toll. EVN had reported that majorreservoirs in the north were close to empty and that it had begunreleasing water on Feb. 8 to save crops for the second and also the lasttime this dry season.
Two thirds of the rice crop in thenorth and north-centre of the nation depended on water from thisrelease, which would last until Feb. 14.
To make mattersworse, Kim said, many thermoelectricity projects were behind schedulemaking it all the more necessary to conserve electricity.
"All other measures, such as increasing power supplies, require more time. They cannot be done within one year," Kim said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged the nation to saveelectricity in the face of such a severe power shortage.
State offices should take the lead by tightening up regulations onelectricity use while factories and major power consumers must work outplans to save power by at least 1 percent, Dung said.
This sector was very important given that it consumed 10 percent of sold electricity.
The Prime Minister also required EVN to improve rural power grids toreduce transmission losses from the current 20 percent to 15 percent bythe end of this year and 10 percent within the next 4 years./.
