Unit 1 with the capacity of 400MW of Son La Hydropower Plant has been successfully connected to the National Electricity System at 12h45’on December 17th, 2010. Son La hydropower plant, with the installed capacity of 2400 MW, including six units, each unit with the capacity of 400MW, is the second ladder on Da River, after Lai Chau hydropower plant started on December 22th and above Hoa Binh hydropower plant.

To serve the needs of development, production, trade and consumption, in the next 5 years, Hanoi will have to invest about VND 19,500 billion to upgrade and renovate the grid system. That is the content of the scheme “Electricity development planning of Hanoi in 2011 – 2015 period, regarding 2020" which has recently been approved by the City People’s Council.

The Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVN HCMC) said that in the past five years, they launched many campaigns to promote efficient use of electricity. As a result, the families of all EVN HCMC staff members have been committed to saving 10 percent of power consumption at home. In response to the appeal of the Ho Chi Minh City Women’s Union, 100,000 households have been committed to saving power.

Some developed countries such as Japan consume only 350-400kWh of electricity to make every tonne of steel billets whereas Vietnam consumes as much as 700kWh of electricity to do that. So if it does not take actions to reduce energy consumption in order to lower the production cost, the Vietnamese steel sector can hardly withstand market competition.

It is nearly one years Phan Xuan Tai family in Tan Lap Village, Cam Thanh Bac Commune, Cam Lam District, Khanh Hoa Province have not been worried about electricity and fuel costs for daily life and raising 120 pigs because they have been using biogas for every daily activities. If there were not the project on biogas sponsored by the Dutch Government, they would have to pay at least VND200,000 for electricity and fuel costs.

An act as simple as replacing a light bulb could lead to billions of dollars in electricity savings, a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme shows. It studied the advantage of switching from obsolete incandescent lamp technology to compact fluorescent lamps or C.F.L.’s.

Adding 265 gigawatts of wind-sourced electricity into the European grids by 2020 is expected to save 41.7 billion euros in electricity costs annually. Market trends and limited infrastructure stand in the way of wind power growth in Europe, stopping the inflow of billions of euros in power savings, according to a new report by the European Wind Energy Association.

On November 19th, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, with the assistance of German Government through the Organization of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the German Energy Agency, put into use the grid connected solar system on the rooftop of the headquarters. The system will save approximately VND 12 million per year for electricity. Using electricity from renewable energy sources is considered the radical solution for the increasing energy demand in Vietnam.

After successes of peanut sowing machine and rubber latex harvesting machine, Le Thanh Binh always wants to have more inventions to contribute to the country’s development. Recently, he successfully produced a sea wave power electricity generator. This machine took part in the Vietnam Exhibition on Technologies and Equipment 2010 held in Quang Ninh Province.

Smart metering solutions will allow the introduction of time-based tariffs and provide consumers with information about their electricity use in real time. But installing the equipment in each household will do nothing unless consumers are given adequate information about how to make use of them.

Dak Nong 500 kV substation, with the capacity of 900 MVA, was built in Nhan Co commune, Dak R'Lap district, Dak Nong, with the total investment of VND600 billion. The 220kV grid of Dong Nai 3 Hydropower Plant - 500kV substation of Dak Nong has the length of over 30km.

Since the plants were put into operation, the total output has been 18 billion kWh and the total revenue has been nearly VND22,000 billion. In 2010, Ca Mau 1 and Ca Mau 2 power plants - Ca Mau Petrovietnam Power Company - plans to produce 7.6 billion kWh, and up to November 10th, the total output has exceeded 4% of the plan, accounting for 13% of electricity output of the whole country, the revenue has reached VND10,512 billion.

A plan to install solar energy panels on two Reigate council buildings is set to save money and reduce carbon emissions, a councillor has said. Councillor Julian Ellacott said the solar panels could generate electricity worth hundreds of thousands of pounds over their 25-year lifespan.

Cars and trucks race down the highway, turn off into town, wait at traffic lights and move slowly through side streets. Electricity flows in a similar way -- from the power plant via high voltage lines to transformer substations. The flow is controlled as if by traffic lights. Cables then take the electricity into the city centre. Numerous switching points reduce the voltage, so that equipment can tap into the electricity at low voltage. Thanks to this highly complex infrastructure, the electricity customer can use all kinds of electrical devices just by switching them on.

"You can save 10 to 20 percent of your energy costs just by paying attention to when and how you use energy in your home," said a member of Middleboro's Green Energy Committee. "Then you can save even more by improving the windows and insulation. On top of all that, use renewables like solar or wind to generate your own electricity.

Thailand will be supplied with some more solar panels for a new power plant, as a result of the signed agreement between the authorities and Suntech Power Holding Co. The latter will provide approximately 9.43MW worth of panels to the installation. The project is owned by Bangchak Petrolem and is scheduled to be finalized by the end of next year. Once online, the solar power plant should provide around 44MW of clean electricity

To meet customer needs and keep pace with the development of tourism and services, Dong Xuyen hotel has been constantly upgrading, improving and renovating facilities, and enhancing service style. Along with that development, the demand for electricity of the hotel is also increasing. Monthly average power consumption of the hotel is about 75 thousand kWh of electricity.

According to statistics, every year, the country has to import 6 million tons of petroleum, 40% of which is for transportation industry. The annual costs of importing petroleum and producing electricity have accounted for one fifth of total GDP of the country and has now “consumed” all GDP of the agricultural sector. The objects which consume much energy are the Industry (consumes 47%), transportation (20%) and households (15%) ...

The Metropolitan building (235 Dong Khoi, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), with the main function of an office for rent, was built in May 1996. Since 2004, seeing the importance of saving electricity in terms of economy as well as environment, the Directorate of the building has invested in renovating energy using equipment to save costs and meet development demand. With investment solutions, the annual power consumption of the building has been reduced by about 11.9%.

The Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC), which supplies electricity to the city and surrounding areas, will have installed digital electricity meters in all buildings by the end of this year, its deputy managing director Abdulrahman al Dhaheri said yesterday. The new meters not only calculate power usage, but also allow consumers to sell their own solar-generated electricity back to the grid.