Many small and medium hydropower plants in the Central Highlands do not
have enough water to operate efficiently although the rainy season is
about to end.
Most hydroelectric companies in Dak Lak complain production has reached
only about half of their targets because of the drought-like weather
conditions.
Some small plants had to shut down temporarily to accumulate enough water, they said.
There are four hydropower plants on the Serepok River - the Buon Tu
Srah Hydropower Plant with a 520 million cubic metres reservoir in Lak
District; the Buon Kuop Hydropower Plant in Dak Lak Province's Krong No
District; Dray H'Linh, Serepok 3 Plants in Dak Nong Province's Cu Dut
District and Serepok 4 in Buon Don District, Dak Lak.
Tran
Van Khanh, director of the Buon Kuop Hydropower Company which operates
the Buon Tu Srah and Serepok 3 plants, said the extended drought
resulted in record low water levels in the Serepok River. He said the
Buon Tu Srah Dam, whose reservoir can hold 520 million cu.m of water,
had just around 60 million cu.m water.
This was the lowest
since the plant was inaugurated in September 2009. Inadequate water in
the Buon Tu Srah Reservoir has caused downstream hydropower plants to
operate perfunctorily because upstream reservoirs have to accumulate
water, he said.
Khanh said the State had assigned his
company to provide 1.28 billion kWh of power this year, but it has only
been able to produce 480 million kWh, about 38 percent of the year's
plan.
"Compared with the same time last year, this is a
record low water level. The rainy season in the Central Highlands often
ends in November, but there is not enough water to operate the plants
even now. With this situation, I am afraid the company will not reach 50
percent of the target," Khanh said.
An official who works
at the Buon Tu Srah Reservoir said last Friday that the dam could not
accumulate enough water and the plant had to stay idle at daytime.
The Krong No River in Dak Nong Province is no longer fierce and deep as
it used to be, and a drop of several dozen meters in water levels in
the dam is clearly visible.
Ho Van Bay, deputy secretary
of Duc Xuyen Commune's People's Committee, said water levels in streams
that linked to the Krong No River were so low that people could walk to
the other side.
Nguyen Van Than, director of the Dak Lak Electricity Company, predicted that the situation would worsen in the coming months.
Water levels at the Ialy Hydropower Plant on the Se San River in Gia
Lai and Kon Tum Provinces have also been reported at critically low
levels and output capacity of the dam is said to be at 50 percent.
Ta Van Luan, director of Ialy Hydropower Company, said the company's
production in the first eight months of this year has reached 50 percent
of that assigned by the Vietnam Electricity Corporation./.
