What happened

A severe shortfall in northern Vietnam's hydropower generation, driven by drought and low reservoir water levels, forced state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) to impose widespread rolling power cuts across the region beginning in late May 2023 and continuing through June 2023. Eleven hydropower plants were forced to reduce output or shut down for lack of water. The outages affected nearly all of Hanoi (every district but one), as well as Hai Phong, Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces, with typical cuts lasting six to eight hours and some extending from 10:00am to 7:30pm; outlying districts such as Ha Dong experienced daily blackouts while Chuong My faced cuts every other day. Hai Phong alone was reported to have lost an estimated 500-600 MW of expected supply on peak demand days. The crisis drew significant concern from local businesses and foreign investors operating in northern Vietnam's major electronics and manufacturing industrial zones, given the region's importance to global supply chains, and reporting at the time anticipated blackouts would become more frequent and longer in the following weeks as the drought persisted. This is documented as a climate/hydrological-driven operational grid shortfall, not an attack.

When cited sources give different casualty, damage or spill figures for this event, they’re reported side by side above rather than merged into one number. See how confidence levels work.