Faced with a series of heat waves in April and May, like its neighbors in Southeast Asia, Vietnam has since lived to the rhythm of power cuts. High demand due to extreme heat experienced in the north and center of the country – an all-time high of 44.2°C was recorded on May 7 in Tuong Duong, in the northern half of Vietnam, not far from the border with Laos – combined with the reduction of water levels from dams, has led to strains on the electricity grid.
At least three major cities, the capital, Hanoi, as well as the coastal cities of Haiphong and Da Nang, have since the beginning of June delayed urban lighting and reduced or eliminated nighttime lighting devices. Hanoi experienced several heat peaks lasting several days between 38°C and 40°C in May, leading, according to the public group Electricité du Vietnam, to a 22.5% increase in average consumption in the capital compared to the previous one. month of April.
Families in “low consumption” mode
The state giant, at the origin of a colossal public debt because of the very competitive costs offered by the country to manufacturers, ratified in May a 3% increase in average distribution prices. The population is therefore now encouraged to consume less: Vietnamese press describes, for example, families in the mode ” low consumption “, praising their efforts to use air conditioning and electrical appliances sparingly. The malls, these department stores that proliferate in the main cities of Vietnam, are designated as refuges for those fleeing the heat.
Power cuts also affect industries, prompting the authorities to spare these economic players in a context of economic boom where Vietnam has become one of the main alternative production bases to China for the major Asian subcontractors of the industry. ‘electronic. The province of Bac Giang (north-east), for example, which hosts, about sixty kilometers from Hanoi, Apple suppliers in its industrial parks, had to promise, at the beginning of June, to deliver electricity in a uninterrupted between 7:45 a.m. and 5 p.m. for twenty days to reassure these precious tenants.
In the Thai province of Tak: 45.4 ° C, April 15
April and May are the hottest months of the year in Vietnam, but also in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and part of Burma. But all these countries on the continental fringe of Southeast Asia are recording temperature levels this year that have never been recorded before. The mercury reached 45.4°C on April 15 in the Thai province of Tak, bordering Burma, and on May 6, 43.5°C in Luang Prabang, Laos. “An event of the same magnitude as the observed heat wave would have been extremely rare in a climate colder than 1.2 °Cand so it would have been virtually impossible for it to happen in the absence of climate change”estimate, in a report published in May on the heat wave in Asia, the World Weather Attribution (WWA), an initiative that brings together researchers from various European research institutes on global warming.
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