Power Outages

It's all to with water (a lack of) and heat (too much).

Much of TP HCM's power is derived from water and in the main from DakLak (where I have my home). If you ever go there you will see double cabled overhead grid cabling which shows it is a big source.

Unfortunately, there is often insufficient electricity to spread around so they 'ration it' by blacking out districts sequentially.

Usually the scheduled power outages last all day starting around 08.00H until about 17.00H. There is a notification system so occasionally when I visit a supplier they say it's a 'dark day' today, meaning no one is working.

If you live in a multiple dwelling building the management is usually notified ahead of time so, if you are lucky, they can get the standby generator working.

All residences should have a standby emergency light - they come from small to full size fluorescent (Phillips) - and are SUPPOSED to be on every staircase and elevator in a building.

Some people buy their own 'portable' generators (some are quite large) where a business needs it for food fridges, etc. But at least most people can cook.

It pays to always check to see if the neighbours lights are out - and across the street - in case your house breaker has tripped (remember the METER has a breaker!).

If you contact your local EVN office they can tell you where the warnings are given. The actual place that controls the power is in a building behind the Reconciliation Palace, on the other side of the street.

P.S. Electricity outages are very democratic, well almost, as outages are shared across the country although Ha Noi and HCM do get power priority.

Well I'll share with you a cut and paste from a e-mail I sent to a friend in Hawaii two years ago about the power cuts.


"Let me tell you about the power shortages that Vietnam is going through this year. It's always been a little bad this time of the year but I think history is being made. Started out last month with a few days a week, a few hours a day they would cut the power. Then it went too about every three days about 10 hours a day. It's now at every other day 14 to 16 hours without power. To make matters worse on the day we do get power, they sometimes cut it at 1600hrs and then turn it back on at about 1900 or as late as 2030hrs. Then to really complicate the problem they can't estimate when or give a schedule of when the power cuts are going to start or when they will turn the electricity back on. I stopped by the electric company here in XXXXXX (EVN) on my way back from shopping in Can Tho today and tried get a schedule. All they could tell me is they get their directions from " High Higher" and their really not sure of when or how long the cuts would be."

Now that was two years ago and life was rough for those who didn't have a generator, which is 98% of the people down here in he Delta.  I had at that time, a 34KW that was over 10 years old when I bought it back in the early 90's. It had already been rebuilt once and had a zillon hours on it. I ended up selling it for junk when we went back to receiving regular power, it wasn't cost effective to rebuild again. As far as notifications go I have yet to receive any advance notice, and have asked and asked  EVN here and still get the same response..

Budman1, just think, your sacrifices kept the wheels of industry humming in TP HCM and the pols in Ha Noi comfortable.

Reasons: to much water, not enough water, drunken drivers and grazy staffing, to much heat and to cold.
Nor sure, what the real reasons are, but power outages and mosquitoes seem to exists in same numbers.

I have a huge diesel staying in the back garden- who will run, if the power is gone, fueling fridge, freezer and phones and computers.

The  light- I don't worry, but about the content of fridge and freezer.

The last 18 month, we where quite lucky, the 9 month prior- 6.5 days a week without power, starting of with with 2 days during daytime and reaching the peak with 10-12 hours of power ones a week.
I can ensure you, it was very romantic, almost no noises (apart from  our garden), no karaoke blarring, many times, the petrol stations closed or no petrol

Nha Trangs economy did grow hugely, mostly  by selling power aggregates, repair shops for them - open day and night with an additional margin of at least 1000% on top of the normal prices, police walking restaurant customers home with torches .....

rotten stuff in the freezers - so everybody buys new and fresh and again (especially the restaurants) - prices exploded for foods.

Do not beg for it. It is less funny than romantic.

Good news, may be!

VietNam is getting ready to build it's second nuclear plant - the first one is at Da Lat's Nuclear Research Institute, which houses VietNam's nuclear research reactor - at Tai An, a village in Central VietNam.

Tai An, a fishing and grape farming village, is on the move as all of it's residents, some 700 families, are being rehoused to make way for the new thing in town.

VietNam, which has been boosting it's grid conections to neighbouring countries, will be a net importer come 2015.

Russia, think Chernobyl, and Japan, think Fukushima, won the first two contracts and S. Korea is pushing for the third. From one working unit in 2020 to ten working units by 2030.

If you're interested look at < http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world … ear&st=cse >.

The NY Times article has very interesting comments about the influence of politics on safety.

Most of the electric power in Vietnam come from hydroelectric power stations. Therefore, in the dry season, the lack of water consequent in the lack of power. The nuclear plant in Dalat is mostly for research so I doubt thar it helps in reducing power outage.
EVN has the power cut schedule posted online. The Vietnamese version is rather up to date. The English one is not that lucky. I guess you'll have to ask your local friends to keep an eye on the list http://www.hcmpc.com.vn/customer/taive.aspx .

l3ully wrote:

The last 18 month, we where quite lucky, the 9 month prior- 6.5 days a week without power, starting of with with 2 days during daytime and reaching the peak with 10-12 hours of power ones a week...

rotten stuff in the freezers - so everybody buys new and fresh and again (especially the restaurants) - prices exploded for foods.

We have meat wholesalers who process venison and other valuable meats (legally) who always need back-ups for back-ups.

For desperate times they use dry ice - frozen CO2. It requires special knowledge in handling, though, but most of all CARE!

They take small containers of the ice (they get the blocks broken up by the dealer) and then place a few around their freezers.

Only thing that is emitted is carbon dioxide that vents into the air.

Nha Trang has dry ice sources, contact  Huynh Nguyen Duy Bao, Nha Trang University (Fishery Research) to find out where he gets it from.

Ban Ma Thuot is less commercialised than Nha Trang so if we can get, I am sure you can.

bem1985 wrote:

Most of the electric power in Vietnam come from hydroelectric power stations.

Except in Hai Phong and Ha Noi!

EVN has the power cut schedule posted online. The Vietnamese version is rather up to date. The English one is not that lucky. I guess you'll have to ask your local friends to keep an eye on the list http://www.hcmpc.com.vn/customer/taive.aspx .

Anyone can read this.

Run: http://translate.google.au (or .ca or .uk - NOT .com) then insert the URL
< ww w.hcmpc.com.vn/customer/taive.aspx >
in the FROM box, select VN to English and hit the translate button.

Jaitch wrote:

l3ully wrote:

The last 18 month, we where quite lucky, the 9 month prior- 6.5 days a week without power, starting of with with 2 days during daytime and reaching the peak with 10-12 hours of power ones a week...

rotten stuff in the freezers - so everybody buys new and fresh and again (especially the restaurants) - prices exploded for foods.

We have meat wholesalers who process venison and other valuable meats (legally) who always need back-ups for back-ups.

For desperate times they use dry ice - frozen CO2. It requires special knowledge in handling, though, but most of all CARE!

They take small containers of the ice (they get the blocks broken up by the dealer) and then place a few around their freezers.

Only thing that is emitted is carbon dioxide that vents into the air.

Nha Trang has dry ice sources, contact  Huynh Nguyen Duy Bao, Nha Trang University (Fishery Research) to find out where he gets it from.

Ban Ma Thuot is less commercialised than Nha Trang so if we can get, I am sure you can.

For me, it's no issue. My freezer will run, light, pc and tv is well. 10 kw is a lot of power.

It is just the inconvenience, that prices are multiplying by the hour and many things seem in short supply.

Dry ice would be  a solution for the bia hoi - but for the patisserie shop or the aquarium fans  a disaster.

A couple of days it's fun, but after weeks it's tiring up a bit

I dang sure hope they are right:

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Indu … ister.html

Budman1 wrote:

I dang sure hope they are right:

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Indu … ister.html

This quite strange. Right now, we are since one hour without power, 2 days ago - starting at the same time, 5 hours without power, and 4 days ago, 13:00 hrs was the power of for 2 hours.

That makes it for now, every 2nd day a few hours.

I'm sure they are doing maint, nothing to do with power shortages like two years ago. Were briefly  without power down here every once in awhile also. Thats going to happen, and I can live with it compared to what we went through before.

So-called Class A buildings (VinCom, SunWah,...) have power backups. Some of the apartments here also have power backups, so no idea what you guys are talking about. Power outages, what outages? .

Budman1 wrote:

I'm sure they are doing maint, nothing to do with power shortages like two years ago. Were briefly  without power down here every once in awhile also. Thats going to happen, and I can live with it compared to what we went through before.

They do much of the high voltage grid maintenance with helicopters, without interruption to power transmission.

Truly amazing to watch: not only do they spray clean insulators from the helicopters but also change spacers used on double-cabled systems but even the insulators used to support the cables at pylons.

Another big problem is pollution. The filthy air shorts out insulators bringing the power down and they even have to resort to insulated cables for overhead transmission which increases costs.

Then there's the water. Doesn't matter if it's coming up through the sewers and drains - potentially shorting out underground cables - or if it's coming from the skies which need especially ribbed insulators to avoid short-circuits.

Transformers are mounted in on pedestals to keep street flood water away.

Then there's heat. Not only does the added power consumption of air-con drive up the load but also heat affects transformer cooling which can burn most impressively.

VN can now import electricity from China, Laos and Cambodia thanks to new trans-border links which have been built in the past few years which have eased the situation a little.

Be happy things aren't like Phu Quy Island where they simply turn the power off from 22.00H through 06.00H the next morning.

All things considered EVN is doing a pretty good job. We can all help - minimise electric hot water use and turn the air-cons off - my HCMC office hasn't used the air-con in years but everything has to be nailed down because of the fans!

ok, we just got our power back. They have possible done some maintenance during their lunch break