Vietnam aims big on renewable energy

That was the message from Tran Hong Thai, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, at yesterday's 1st Asia Meeting on Environment and Electrical Engineering.

Thai said Viet Nam was pressing ahead with the phase-in of renewable energy and had launched many programmes, including the national "Researching and Developing Energy Technologies Programme" which is aimed at facilitating investment in green energy and smart grids.  

He also said the ministry had recently submitted a legal draft to the Prime Minister for approval, which involves the decommissioning of low-efficiency equipment. The draft was green in that it had a provision for low-efficiency gas- and coal-powered generators.

Guido Hildner, German Ambassador to Vietnam, said Germany was providing more than 1 billion euros for cooperation projects in Vietnam, most of which focused on green energy transition.

"We are supporting Viet Nam to read existing job profiles and develop new ones with green skills. Each year, 35,000 trainees are benefiting directly from our cooperation", said the ambassador.

He added that in the next two years, Germany would provide another 61 million euros for projects in three areas - forestry, energy, and vocational training. 

Dang Bang Viet, Deputy Director of Science, Technology & Energy Department, Vietnam Electricity, said the National Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII) had set the targets for energy transition in Vietnam in the next decades.

From 2023 to 2050, under the plan, the share of renewable energy in the energy mix is expected to increase from 26 to 62%. Hydropower would move in the opposite direction, from 28 to 6%. The same goes for coal-derived power, which would be phased out during the period.

Meanwhile, gas-derived power is projected to increase from 11% in 2023 to 25% in 2030, then decrease gradually to 8% by 2050.

Khanh Duc Hoang, a representative from the Institute of Energy, said coal-derived power would be completely phased out by 2050. Gas-derived power, meanwhile, was expected to become the core part of the energy mix by 2030 but would be gradually superseded by hydrogen by 2050.

Solar power is projected to hit 189 GW by the date under PDP VIII whereas wind power would contribute 30 GW in 2030 and 170 GW in 2050 to the national power output.

Nguyen Quang Minh, Director of Power Market Development Research and Training Center, said renewable energy would become mainstream in Viet Nam in the long term but it would be not the case in the short- and medium-term because traditional energy still takes a large share of the pie.

Of the 271.1 TWh of electricity generated in 2022, 38% came from coal, 30% from hydropower, 11% from gas & oil, 10% from solar farms, 3.3% from wind farms, 6.7% from small hydro, and 1.2% from imports. 

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