Vietnam's Central Highlands region will, by 2010, become home to 14 hydroelectric plants with total capacity of 5,000 MW or over a third of the country's current capacity, according to local newspaper Vietnam News on Monday.

Vietnam will build six plants with combined capacity of 1,796 MW on the Se San river which are due for completion by 2008, and another six plants with combined annual output of 2.85 billion kWh on the Se Re Pok river in the region which currently houses two hydroelectric plants: Ialy and Se San 3.

Vietnam's electricity output has so far this year reached nearly 53.8 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 12.7 percent, according to the state-owned Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the country's biggest electricity producer and sole distributor. Of the output, the commodity electricity accounts for over 46.7 billion kWh, up nearly 13.6 percent against the same period last year.

Vietnam may encounter an electricity shortage in near future because some power plants will cease operation for scheduled repair and maintenance, and water flows to hydroelectric plants in the northern region will become smaller in the last quarter of this year.

The country is accelerating construction of power stations, importing electricity from China, and planning to increase electricity selling prices by 8 percent in either December 2006 or January 2007, the state-owned corporation said.

Vietnam's electricity demand is forecast to annually grow 15-16 percent until 2010, according to the country's Industry Ministry. It plans to increase its electricity capacity to 25,000-26,000 MW in 2010 from 11,400 MW in 2005, meeting demand for its socio- economic development.

Source: Xinhua