POWER March 2012 - 56

POWER IN VIETNAM
dry seasons (see table). This includes building
out the 500-kV grid, though the state
said it would research development of power
networks at voltages of 750 kV, 1,000 kV,
and high-voltage direct current after 2020. A
notable aspect of the plan includes cooperation
with other Southeast Asian countries for
an interconnection of Vietnam's grid through
transmission networks at voltage levels of
110, 220, and 500 kV.
A Water Constraint
Today, roughly 36% of Vietnam's electricity
is generated by hydropower, and the long
and narrow country through which course the
mighty Red and Mekong Rivers and wellknown
smaller waterways including the Ka
Long O River and Huong River (Perfume
River) continues to have colossal hydropower
potential. Since Vietnam's independence in
1954, the governing Vietnamese Communist
Party has actively promoted development of
hydropower, spurring construction of 1,021
large and small hydropower projects in 36
provinces and cities, according to the Ministry
of Industry and Trade. Hydropower potential
is concentrated along the country's 10 largest
river systems: Da (Black), Lo-Gam-Chay, MaChu,
Ca, Vu Gia-Thu Bon, Tra Khuc-Huong,
Se San, Ba, Serepok, and Dong Nai.
Vietnam's power plan calls for rapid hydropower
development for the next five to 10
years. Under Master Plan VII, hydropower
resources will be expanded to 17,400 MW by
2020. Over the period 2016 to 2030, project
development will also focus on pumpedstorage
projects: Vietnam plans to increase
its pumped storage capacity from 1,800 MW
in 2020 to 5,700 MW by 2030.
The Dong Nai River Basin, in particular-which
originates in the central highlands
of the southern portion of the country
and runs 586 km (364 miles) across 11
provinces and cities-has a total of 17 hydropower
projects under construction with
a total designed capacity of 3,000 MW.
Among the projects under construction is
one of the largest in Southeast Asia: the
2,400-MW Son La project on the Da River
in the north, which features a roller-compacted
concrete gravity dam that is 138
meters (453 feet) high. The second of six
400-MW units at this plant was commissioned
in August 2011 (Figure 3).
Construction of new hydropower on
such a massive scale will introduce critical
new problems, Nga Dao, cofounder
and director of the Center for Water Resources
Conservation and Development
in Vietnam, told POWER. " Problems with
technical and socio-environmental issues,
such as floods downstream or resettlement
difficulties, are readily observed, " Dao,
54
who published a paper in the Journal for
Vietnam Studies on the matter last summer,
said. The projects will boost Vietnam's
economy, but they will place a high toll on
citizens living along the rivers, particularly
those in the northwest, who face displacement,
heightened pollution, and reduced
water supplies. A less-obvious impact
is that costs of hydropower construction
have been systemically underestimated,
because, simply put, " project bottom lines
do not reflect reality, " she said.
The country is also prone to droughts, such
as the one that afflicted the country in 2010
and 2011 and forced the government to take
severe water consumption mitigation measures
such as rationing power and increasing
electricity prices by 15%.
Vietnam also routinely competes with
its neighbors on the lower Mekong River
for water, making its reliance on hydropower
a contentious political issue (see
sidebar). These reasons considered, once
Vietnam reaches its hydropower potential,
it plans to diversify its power generation
profile, reducing hydro's share to
16% by 2030.
Damming the Mekong
The 3,050-mile-long Mekong River that
courses through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand,
Cambodia, and southern Vietnam
(Figure 4) has long been called by the
peoples of Southeast Asia the " Mother
of Water. " Because the Mekong provides
critical water supply for the riparian countries
and gives birth to equally important
tributaries, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and
Vietnam in 1995 established the Mekong
River Commission to help manage use of
the river's resources.
The most recent scuffle dealt with by
the commission involves construction of
the $3.8 billion Xayaburi dam in Laos,
which was suspended on Dec. 6, 2011,
pending further impact studies by Japan
of the 1,285-MW, 2,600-foot-high project.
Vietnam has been the most vocal in
its opposition to the Thai-financed dam
(and 11 other dam projects proposed
on lower reaches of the river), saying it
would unleash massive ecological changes
and threaten fish population and delivery
of nutrient-rich silt to the Mekong Delta
(China already operates four dams on
the river's upper reaches). Project proponents,
including the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand, say that the dam
www.powermag.com
4. Mother of water. Arising from
China's Tibetan Plateau, the Mekong River
courses through Burma, Laos, Thailand, and
Cambodia. It then widens into the nine channels
of the Mekong Delta once it crosses
the border into southern Vietnam and drains
into the South China Sea. The river is the
blue ribbon running south from the top edge
of this NASA false-color Terra MODIS image
from August 2003. Source: NASA
3. Big hydro. While commissioning the
first of six Son La units in 2010, Russian engineering
firm Institute Hydropower's chief
design engineer, Alexander Volynchikov, said
that designing the dam required " several
unconventional layout alternatives " because
engineers had only six years to put the first
unit into commercial operation. The project's
unique river diversion method is said to enable
spillway capacities of 38,000 cubic meters
(49,702 cubic yards) of water per second, exceeding
those of even more massive Russian
plants, like the 6,400-MW Sayano-Shushenskaya,
whose maximum discharge is 15,900
cubic meters per second. (See a story about
the disaster at that Russian facility in our Dec.
2010 issue.) Courtesy: Institute Hydropower
would be a critical energy source for the
power-starved region as well as a potential
source of income that would spur the
economy of Laos.
POWER | March 2012
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POWER March 2012

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