The Government Inspectorate on December 25 released a report on its conclusions after it had inspected regulatory compliance in management, planning and development of electricity projects under National Power Development Plan VII and the amendments to this plan.

The Government Office had announced Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai’s order to assign the Government Inspectorate to make public its inspection conclusions, oversee the execution of these conclusions and report to the prime minister by April 2024.

The report pointed out a case which involves the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s approvals of multiple solar power projects which were included in provincial power development plans from 2016 to 2020 even though there was no legal ground for such approvals.

That the Ministry of Industry and Trade added 154 solar power projects with a combined capacity of 13,837 MW and advised the prime minister to approve them had no legal ground, according to the report.

Of these solar projects, 123 with a total capacity of nearly 8,500 MW were put into operation in the 2016-2020 period, thus leading to power grid overloads and causing huge difficulties for operations in the power industry. This is a sign of irresponsibility that caused severe consequences under Article 360 of the 2015 Penal Code and the 2017 amended Penal Code.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade also advised the prime minister to issue Point 3, Article 5 in Decision 13/2020 not in compliance with the Government’s Resolution 115/2018 and with the conclusions and instructions made by the prime minister as stated in Announcement 402/2019 of the Government Office, which made power purchase prices high and thus ate into profits of State utility Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN).

Source: Saigon Times