Additional USD500 million to improve Vietnam's electricity transmission

The capacity, efficiency and reliability of electricity transmission in areas that are key to the Vietnam’s economic development, including the greater Hanoi area, the greater Ho Chi Minh city area, the Mekong Delta, and the Central Region will be improved via a loan of USD500 million from the World Bank.

The project will finance transmission lines and substations at voltage levels of 220 and 500 kilovolts to increase the transport capacity and reliability of the electric grid. It will finance about 15 percent of Vietnam’s transmission network growth from 2015 to 2020, targeting key investment needs in major economic development areas where transmission overloads are already present or will happen in the very short term.

In addition, the project will support Smart Grid technologies for monitoring, control, and protection equipment to improve reliability and reduce electricity outages. At the same time, it will also help build the capacity of the National Power Transmission Company by supporting its operational and financial independence, in line with the power sector reforms program, which foresees a wholesale competitive market to be piloted by 2015.

The total financing requirement of the project is estimated at USD731.25 million, of which USD500 million will be funded by the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, while the remaining will be financed by Vietnam.

(Source: CPV)