Coal shortage may affect power sector: Vinacomin

Coal shortage may affect power sector: Vinacomin

Vinacomin, or the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Corporation, said in a conference held by the General Department of Energy yesterday that it cannot afford the coal supply for the power sector, adding that the country may face power shortages in 2015 due to a short supply of coal.

According to the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA), thermal-power plants fueled by coal account for nearly 50 percent of the country’s total number of power plants.

This means that the power supply is heavily reliant on coal supply, which is, however, most likely to face a shortage in the future.

In addition to the Electricity Group of Vietnam (EVN), PetroVietnam, the country’s largest gas supplier, is also planning to set up four more thermal-power plants, according to VEA Chairman Tran Viet Ngai.

While Vietnam has long relied on hydropower and thus used to suffer regular power cuts due to water shortages, it is now likely that there will be a new reason for cuts by 2015 -- a coal shortage, experts said at the conference.

Nguyen Canh Nam, Vinacomin’s assistant chairman, said Vietnam is expected to face a shortfall of 7.7 million tons of coal in 2015. That figure will rise to 60 million in 2020, and 100 million tons in 2025.

“With Vinacomin’s current capacity standing at only 40 million tons a year, we can only meet one third of total demand,” said Nam.

While a thermal-power plant is required to ensure supply of only the type of coal that its plant is designed to be fueled from for 20 – 25 years, PVN has so far signed a contract with suppliers for only 10 years, said PVN deputy CEO Nguyen Quoc Khanh.

“It’s a big challenge to ensure a 20 year coal supply.”

Meanwhile, Doctor Nguyen Thanh Son, CEO of Song Hong Energy Co, a Vinacomin subsidiary, expressed his disagreement with the view that Vietnam still has large coal reserves.

“Some experts say the Red River coal basin has 200 billion tons in reserves, but this is groundless optimism.

“Our calculations show that the real figure is only 10 billion tons,” said Son.

For his part, Luong Nguyen Khoa Truong, an official from PVN, said it is inevitable that Vietnam will have to import energy.

“But we shouldn’t import energy that pollutes like coal,” he said.

Truong suggested importing liquefied natural gas, or LNG, as this causes less pollution, despite its higher price.

“Vietnam is located near many LNG export centers such as Indonesia and Malaysia, so we should sign importing contract with them as soon as possible,” he urged.

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