Competitive power market kick-starts

The development of competitive power market is Việt Nam’s long-term strategy which was legalized in the 2004 Law of Electricity and detailed in the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 26/2006/QĐ-TTg dated on January 26, 2005.

Accordingly, the market will be upgraded in three levels, namely competitive power generation (2005-2014), competitive power trading (2015-2022), and retail sales of power (after 2022).

The launch of the competitive power generation market aims to secure equal competition in power production and equal pricing of electricity, improve production efficiency, and attract more resources of funding for power generation.

The transformation of the market must also work to secure power supply with reasonable prices.

The market will operate under the model of cost-based pool. Power producers have the rights to offer power prices on the market.

The first transaction day of the market saw the participation of 48 out of 73 power plants of a capacity of 30MW each. The figure is expected to increase to 55 by the year end.

Total capacity of the above-said 48 plants accounts for 61% of the country’s power system.

Other multi-functioned power plants like Sơn La, Hòa Bình, and Yaly will not take part in the market as they are designed to undertake other social missions such as irrigation and flood prevention.

The State will continue to manage big power plants of significant importance in terms of socio-economic development, security and national defense.

Other power plants under the management of the Electricity of Việt Nam will be re-arranged to become independent entities in a bid to make them more active and competitive.

As the power generation market becomes more developed, customers will have chances to select power providers.

By Hải Minh