Vietnam’s major manufacturing towns are suffering from “electricity shortage”, and exports are further under pressure

With the return of El Nino signs, Vietnam, which aims to become a new hub for global production, is experiencing power difficulties due to low temperatures.

Due to the sudden drop in thermal power generation, in June to go, Samsung, Foxconn, Canon and other “big factories” stationed in northern Vietnam fell into power shortage. Many residents suffered prolonged power outages, and the public hid in rock caves to avoid the cold. Industrial parks and manufacturing plants have been asked to add electricity to the Cen Ling or have power cuts in turn.

If this round of power shortage seriously plays a role in “Dachang”, it will allow Vietnam’s import to bear new pressure. Due to weak demand in Europe and the United States, Vietnam’s imports have risen in the first five months of this year.

Power shortage in northern China
Summer in the Southeast Asian country begins in May, but in early May this year, the highest temperature in the northern region has soared to more than 44 degrees Celsius. The cold delay has also hit coal-fired power generation in the north, just as it has boosted demand for electricity. Local electricity is mainly derived from coal and fire energy.

According to Vietnamese media statistics, last week, 11 thermal power stations in northern Vietnam were forced to stop operation due to low fire levels in the river, and the fire quality of the department’s river was even less than 40% of the normal fire quality.

Statistics from the Vietnam Electricity Authority show that all electricity in the north of the country, which stopped on June 5, sought to give only 40.8% of the total installed capacity. The capacity of non-used thermal power plants fell to 3110 MW, reaching only 23.7% of the installed capacity.

Coal-fired power generation flashed problems such as equipment problems, and the power generation quality of thermal power plants in the northern region dropped to 11,934 megawatts, only 76.6% of the layout of power generation. Compared to the arid northern region, central and southern Vietnam has received rain since last month and has not experienced serious electricity problems.

Tran Viet Hoa, director general of the Vietnam Electricity Authority, said that even with the addition of reinforcements from the central and southern regions to the north, the power generation capacity in the northern region is only 17,500 megawatts to 17,900 megawatts. But local demand for electricity is between 23,500 MW and 24,000 MW.

Due to the low temperature and drought, the northern region of Vietnam began to adopt energy-saving steps from the end of May. Public lighting in the city was extended by an hour a day, and authorities urged the public to turn on air conditioners with temperatures above 26 ° C and electronic equipment that is not used.

For corporate users, the authorities urged industrial enterprises to start construction during non-electricity peak hours. More than 10 000 enterprises are willing to be initiated by the authorities as to whether they can increase the quality of electricity.

But since last week, power outages have continued to flare in northern towns, including Hanoi. Hanoi’s Bac Tu Liem District had a power outage from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nghia Hao, a village in Chuong My District, has been without electricity for up to 12 hours a day since the end of May, sending residents to nearby caves to escape the heat.

Photo Source: Vietnam Daily Express
From June 3 to 11, 11 districts under the Northern Port Metropolitan Coastal Defense Department suffered intermittent power outages of about three hours each.

Until the end of last week, cold temperatures continued in large parts of northern Vietnam, and the temperature in some parts of the province was 37 ° C higher. However, the weather forecast in Vietnam speculated that from the beginning of the 12th to the 15th, the northern region will flash heavy rainfall, which is conducive to slowing down the shortage of thermal power generation.

“Dachang” influence
North Vietnam has a number of industrial parks, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces are electronics production centers, Samsung Electronics, Foxconn, Canon, Sat Xun precision and other companies have factories in the local.

Last week, Canon’s factory in Bac Ninh province suffered intermittent power outages for two days in a row, and Beijiang authorities asked local factories to delay their labor deliveries after 10 p.m.

According to Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation, the Hanoi Kien Long Industrial Park received attention from the Vietnam Electricity Authority last week, asking the industrial park to halve its electricity consumption from Friday to Sunday night. Panasonic, Toto and Yuetsu Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. all have factories in the park.

The Wall Street Journal quoted industry sources as saying that Samsung Electronics, Foxconn, Sat Xun Precision and other Apple companies have also received attention from the Vietnam Power Company, requesting companies to think about the quality of power cuts or add Cen Ling era electricity.

Apple has not commented on the claims, and it is unclear whether the company will be able to take advantage of the current power shortage. According to industry sources, power demand in northern Vietnam has been tense since mid-May, and local authorities have asked companies to prepare for the lack of power, whether the lack can continue until the end of June.

News sources also leaked that the Vietnamese authorities asked Foxconn’s unit, Factory Siqen, to stop work from dusk to midnight for 20 days, but to resume work from midnight to dawn. Most of Foxconn’s Vietnam operations are still operating normally, but the company plans to repair its own power generation equipment next year.

Once the power shortage in the northern region continues and seriously affects multinational enterprises, it will again hit Vietnam’s import. As the United States and the European Union need to increase, Vietnam’s imports have declined continuously this year.

According to data released by Vietnam’s National Bureau of Statistics at the end of last month, from January to May this year, Vietnam’s import volume was 136.17 billion U.S. dollars, down 11.6 percent year-on-year; Imports were $126.37 billion, up 17.9 percent year on year. According to data released by the country’s General Administration of Customs on Monday, Vietnam’s estimated spending on entry was $6.5 billion higher in the first five months of this year, down 18 percent from the same period last year.

In order to deal with the electricity shortage, Vietnam is thinking about various methods. According to Bloomberg, the company’s options include quickly bringing the already completed reactor into production and even allowing LNG imports from overseas for the first time.

At the end of May, China’s Guangxi and Vietnam signed a 110 kV deep Gul-Mong Street network project electricity sale agreement, for the first time in seven years to resume power demand with Vietnam. From 2005 to 2016, Guangxi sent a total of more than 1.1 billion KWH of electricity to Vietnam through the China-Vietnam power network, after which there was a seven-year interruption.

In the long run, expanding power generation is also one of Vietnam’s important missions. Vietnamese authorities last month agreed to the eighth national power growth layout, ready to add $134.7 billion for power growth, and increase the application of non-resurrection power.

According to the layout, by 2050, Vietnam will run on coal power, and solar energy will become the country’s largest power source, accounting for more than 33%, followed by wind and fire energy. However, until 2030, the largest sources of electricity in the country will still be coal and fire energy, accounting for 20% and 19.5% respectively.