Although the Government has allowed economic components to invest in small hydropower and many projects has been registered, small hydropower projects still encounter difficulties. And one of the reasons for that is the lack of preparation for input as well as output from investors.
Worries about the shortage of capital
Despite being called “small and medium-sized” projects, hydropower project development requires huge capital. The lack of capital is the main reason for the slow progress rate. There are currently 99% of small and medium-sized hydropower projects being lagged behind due to the capital shortage. The majority of them longs for the help from banks, but this is not always as expected. Quang Nam province has now planned more than 30 small and medium-sized hydropower projects, and Southern Tra My province 13 projects, of which the ones that have been started are just the minority. Yen Bai is the province which always considers small hydropower is the primary objective, but many have been delayed due to the lack of capital. This is not to mention a number of investors who have difficulty in mobilizing capital, so they cannot carefully research and examine the terrain, which leads to a great amount of troubles. Though the Government has permitted all economic components to invest in small and medium-sized hydropower, the capital attraction is not goes smoothly owing to the unappealing supporting policy for investors to invest in the countryside and mountainous areas.
Worries about selling power
In the 10th Industry Conference of highland and Northern mountainous area, Lao Cai province’s representative said that one of the biggest questions of small and medium-sized hydropower investors is how to put power on the power network. This is resulted from the fact that small and medium-sized hydropower projects are chiefly in remote areas where the transmission system cannot connect from the hydropower plants to the necessary places. Besides, the infrastructure of remote areas is not convenient enough to transport materials, equipments easily. A common concerns of investors is that when the hydropower plants are finished, they cannot find the output for them. For this problem, Mr. Dau Duc Khoi, Vice President of EVN argues that the investment in transmission is still unreasonable because it has not been approved by EVN in advance, so EVN cannot plan to upgrade the lines in time. In order to guarantee the rights for investors, EVN has assigned Power Plants to cooperate with localities to pass small-scale projects. One thing important is before constructing, investors need to discuss and come to a decision in accord with EVN on the strategies of transmission and electricity price. In terms of electricity price, it will be calculated by the competitive market mechanism, thus investors can register to sell electricity on the long run basis or on hour basis.
The need of policy supporting
For the time being, there are proposals according to which the Government should guide EVN in up-lifting 220kV and 110kV power network so that these power net work will be capable of power transmission. Apart from building the mechanism of developing the infrastructure to draw capital from abundant sources and creating a supportive banking system that sponsors the credit loans for hydropower projects, investors are craving for establishing a hydropower investor committee which helps them get more information and experience of construction. And also, they wish for the minimizing the bureaucracy procedures from the beginning to the end of a project. Moreover, investors propose to the Government to issue a rational tariff framework to appeal investment. Setting up a fund for power network development in the countryside and mountainous areas is another requirement. Besides, planning small and medium-sized hydropower projects must be transparent and united in order for effortless control; and the progress rate needs frequent examining to retain the speed of constructing as planned. In the forth coming time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will establish an off-network recycled energy Fund so as to produce a capital mobilizing channel to maintain the sustainable development of recycled energy projects in the countryside and mountainous areas. This fund will sponsor 4 projects in Ha Giang and Quang Nam, and then will expand to other provinces. Hopefully, this will be a fortunate signal for recycled energy projects in general and hydropower projects in particular in localities.
From CNVN, Vol.45