HANOI: Vietnam has allowed domestic coal miners to boost output by up to 15 per cent to meet rising demand for electric power, the government said on Wednesday (June 10).
Demand for electricity has surged in recent weeks as Vietnam has sweltered under successive heatwaves, with the government warning the probable El Nino weather pattern could pile more strain on the grid.
Miners will now be permitted to exceed their licensed capacities through the end of the year, according to a resolution that went into effect Tuesday.
The move will "ensure national energy security in an urgent situation, not interrupting the supply of coal for power generation and other baseline industries", the government said in a statement Wednesday.
"The extra coal output is exclusively used for power generation," it said.
The government said in May that "prolonged hot weather with high intensity, accompanied by thunderstorms and unusually heavy rain, has significantly affected coal and mineral mining activities" of the Vietnam Coal Mining group, the country's largest miner.
According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam exploited 19.4 million tonnes of coal in the first five months of the year, down more than four percent year-on-year.
Vietnam, which still relies on coal-fired plants for around half of its electric power, has committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
In March, the country signed a cooperation agreement with Russia for the construction of its first nuclear power plant. - AFP
