More than 85 percent of communes nationwide have been connected to thenational electric power grid by the end of September, according toElectricity of Vietnam (EVN) group.

The groupsaid electricity has been supplied to all districts across the countryeither via the national grid or by local sources, adding that thenational grid has reached five out of the 12 island districts, namelyVan Don and Co To in the northern province of Quang Ninh, Cat Hai in thenorthern port city of Hai Phong, Ly Son in the central province ofQuang Ngai and Phu Quoc in the southern province of Kien Giang.

Also according to the group’s statistics, 24,373,000 out of the total24,760,000 households in the country, or 98.44 percent, have beenconnected to the national grid.

The groupreported that it has completed 97 percent of the workload of the projecton upgrading and expanding the electricity grid in remote andhard-to-reach areas funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’sloans, bringing electricity to 56,000 households in the four provincesof Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Tra Vinh and Soc Trang. The project will supplyelectricity to an additional 36,000 households by the end of this year.

More than 9,600 households have benefitted fromanother project to expand the national grid in the northern mountainousprovince of Son La, which is slated to complete at the end of thisyear.

EVN said it has put into operation fournew turbines with a total capacity of 1,622 MW since the beginning ofthe year, which are turbines No. 1 and 2 at Vinh Tan 2 thermal powerplant, turbine No.2 at Hai Phong 2 thermal power plant and turbine No. 1at Song Bung 4 hydro power plant.

In themeantime, the group started construction work on three power plants –the 600 MW Thai Binh thermal power plant, the 1,200 MW Vinh Tan 4thermal power plant and the 75 MW expansion of Thac Mo hydro powerplant.

Total power output in the nine-month period reached 108 billion kWh, up 10.29 percent year on year.-VNA