The Vietnam Renewable Energy Week 2019 organized by the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance (VSEA) which just finished days ago in Hanoi and An Giang was a forum for multi-stakeholder dialogue to propose solutions for an equitable energy transition and sustainable development.

According to Nguy Thi Khanh, director of GreenID, the coordination agency of VSEA, as a country with abundant renewable energy potential, Vietnam will have many benefits when shifting early to develop clean energy.

Khanh said using energy effectively and prioritizing renewable energy will ensure energy security, reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports, mitigate pollution, protect the climate and community health, and increase energy access for the poor.

This will also create opportunities to attract investment, generate jobs, and promote the participation of people and private businesses in the clean energy market.

The decision to raise the proportion of renewable energy from 6 percent to 10.7 percent is expected to pave the way to generate 315,000 jobs each year. The number of jobs created in the renewable energy sector will be twice as much as fossil fuel.

As a country with abundant renewable energy potential, Vietnam will have many benefits when shifting early to develop clean energy.

As such, universities and vocational schools need to adapt to the development trend so as to produce the human resources needed. 

Regarding the development of renewable energy, Dao Trong Tu, the founder of VSEA, said it is necessary to draw up a detailed plan for the national renewable energy system, while pointing out that the current massive investment in solar power in the context of the limited transmission system capability has caused big losses to both investors and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

According to Tu, the overloading of the transmission network in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan was anticipated. However, because of the promised high electricity purchase price, investors are still rushing to develop solar power plants within a short time, which has caused the overloading.

As a result, power plants cannot generate electricity at full capacity.

Therefore, he stressed that the development of renewable power plants needs to be associated with the development of infrastructure items. If the overloading continues and power plants have to run at moderate level, the investment in power generation will be insignificant.

According to Do Duc Quan from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), if there is total electricity capacity of 100,000 MW by 2025, the capacity of renewable power should be 15,000 MW.

Thanh Mai

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