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Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) says it will continue buying electricity from China in December in order to meet domestic demand.

The power supply in December will remain difficult

According to EVN, the power supply in December will remain difficult to meet due to unstable operations of newly-opened coal-fueled thermal power plants and halt of a number of turbines at other thermal power plants for repair. Also, heavy rains and flooding are still expected to take place in the central region in the month.

In December, the average power output is estimated at 277 million kWh per day, with the peak power generation capacity of between 15,700 MW and 16,200 MW.

EVN pointed out the country faced many changes in weather conditions in November with flooding in the central region, cold weather in the north and torrential rains and flood in the south.

Water levels of several lakes of hydropower plants in the central region and Central Highlands, including Song Hinh, Song Ba Ha, Buon Kuop, Dai Ninh and Da Nhim are higher than that of many previous years. However, water levels at big hydropower reservoirs such as Hoa Binh, Tuyen Quang, Tri An and Ialy are still from 10-16 metres lower than that of the same period last year.

EVN’s total electricity output in November was estimated to be 8.34 billion kWh. Of this, 3.26 billion kWh were bought from foreign countries, up 33.7% on the year, including 524 million kWh from China (up 31.7% against November 2009).

So far this year, EVN has put into operations eight turbines and six power projects, generating a total output of 1,310 MW. In December, the group plans to operate three additional turbines, including one at Son La Hydropower Plant, in efforts to raise its power output to 1,895 MW this year.