Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Vice President of EVN and
Mr. Sisavath Thiravong, Vice President of LPC chairing the conference
In the Conference, representatives evaluated the situation of power supply for industrial production and everyday life’s activities in some Lao provinces in the area of Lao – Viet border, along Tay Bac, the Central and Tay Nguyen, especially in La Pang and Phieng Khoai ports of entry in Son La province, Lao Bao and La Hay ports of entry in Quang Tri province. Although there is electricity shortage in Vietnam, the country has still been sufficiently and adequately providing power for the neighbor Laos in recent years. At present, Power Company No.3 is completing the procedure to provide power for Laos via Cha Lo port of entry (Quang Binh province), A Dot and Hong Van ports of entry (Thua Thien Hue province), Dak Ooc port of entry (Quang Nam province) and Bo Y port of entry (Kon Tum province). Power Company No.1 is finishing the procedure to supply electricity for Laos via Tay Trang port of entry (Dien Bien province).
Mr. Sisavath Thiravong, Vice President of Lao Power Company expressed his sincere thanks to EVN and Power Company No.1 & 3 for their power supply. He posed other important problems in the Conference and proposed to the Governments of the two countries to link the power transmission networks in order to make use of the advantages of Laos and Vietnam, that is, rain season in Laos is at the same time with dry season in Vietnam; to construct hydropower plants in the South of Laos and power transmission lines after these plants are completed. He also asked for help from Vietnam in human resource training and proposed to raise the supplied capacity from 4 MW to 10 MW to ensure electricity for industries.
Also in the Conference, Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Vice President of The Electricity of Vietnam agreed with the conclusion of representatives in Lao Power Company that the cooperation between the power sectors of the two countries has successfully developed. Also, he assigned tasks to PC1 and PC3 to meet the requirements of the partner. The problems which have not been solved yet will be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government. Despite of the domestic power shortage, Vietnam always supply power for Laos as a top priority. In terms of power transmission line from Laos to Vietnam, Sekaman 3 project (240 MW, operating in 2010 as expected) is invested by Viet Lao Hydropower Joint Stock Company, Sekaman 1 (488 MW, operating in 2013 as expected) is invested for the line from the plant to Ban Soc 500 kV substation, but the line from Ban Soc 500 kV substation to Pleiku 500 kV substation has not been invested yet. In the point of view of Mr. Hung, EVN can construct the 500 kV line from Viet – Laos border to Pleiku 500 kV substation, and other investors should be mobilized to cooperate in the construction of the line from the border to Ban Soc 500 kV substation. For Nam Mo hydropower project which has the capacity of 100 MW and is expected to operate in 2012, EVN is requiring the investor to find out the connection point. EVN hopes that EdL will closely cooperate with them in the area of purchasing power between the two countries. Also said by Mr. Hung, many projects will utilize the power transmission line for the construction of the projects. The linkage of the power transmission network between the two nations will create a cost-effective, stable and secure power operation system.
Representatives in the Conference also reached an agreement on issues related to the power purchase between PC1, PC3 and power plants of EdL in provinces such as signing new contracts, liquidating contracts and so on.