HANOI: Even though the intense heat has drove up demand for electricity, there will no blackouts this summer, the Ministry of Industry and Trade told a press conference on Monday.
Vietnam is not facing any risk of electricity shortage this year, Deputy Minister Tran Tuan Anh said, attributing most of recent power cuts around Hanoi to technical issues.
The heat peaked on May 28 when the whole country consumed up to 25,000 megawatts of electricity, but that was still lower than the national output at up to 30,000 MW, according to Dinh The Phuc, deputy chief of the ministry’s Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam.
He said the record high temperature had seen electricity consumption surge by 13.56 percent in May compared to the same month last year, and by 8 percent compared to April.
Hanoi was the biggest consumer, recording a month-on-month increase of 28 percent, Phuc said.
The official called on people to save energy to reduce pressure on the national grids, saying that the heat wave will continue this month, “definitely” causing a surge in demand.
The mercury soared to over 41 degrees Celsius in the central region on Monday, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting’s website. The current heat wave was said to have broken records in terms of both duration and temperature.
It is the longest heat wave to heat the central region in 15 years and has lasted 30 days so far. The temperature in Hanoi hit 40.3 degrees Celsius on May 28, the 44-year high.
