Business

Power development offers both opportunities and challenges

Opportunities and challenges to electricity development in the Mekong Delta region were discussed at a conference held in Can Tho city on July 17.
Opportunities and challenges to electricity development in theMekong Delta region were discussed at a conference held in Can Tho cityon July 17.

Thanks to its favourable terrain and convenient watertransport, Mekong Delta provinces have focused on building a raft ofthermo-electricity plants to serve the increasing demand of localresidents and ensure energy security in the region and its vicinity,according to Nguyen Quoc Viet, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee forthe Southwest Region.

However, the constructionand operation of thermo-power plants has had great impacts on theenvironment and local lives, he added.

At the conference,scientists and experts overviewed the blueprint to develop electricityby 2030 in the country and the Mekong Delta region as well as theinfluences of coal-fuelled power plants on community health whilerecommending alternative energy sources to protect the environment.

NguyenDuc Cuong, Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy and CleanDevelopment Mechanism under the Ministry of Industry and Trade’sInstitute of Energy, said that the Mekong Delta region has a total powercapacity of over 2,000 megawatts, currently making up 6 percent of thenation’s power capacity but is expected to increase to 16 percent by2030.

He added that the region has huge potential to developrenewable energy plants using biomass resources such as rice husk, sugarcane bagasse, wind and sun.

Wind farms with a total capacity of16 megawatts are being operated in the region; additional turbines willbe installed to bring the total capacity to 83 megawatts. Nine otherbiomass plants with a combined capacity of 30 megawatts are to beconstructed in the locality.

According to Tran Dinh Sinh, ViceDirector of the Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID), airpollution caused by power plants in the Mekong Delta region indirectlyleads to 8,000 deaths every year as a result of higher risks of heartstrokes, lung cancer and respiratory diseases.

He said that whileplanning power, industrial and transport development, relevantauthority need to evaluate plan impacts on the environment and residenthealth. He also recommended the Government further invest in cleanenergy and installing equipment to control emissions.-VNA
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