VietNamNet Bridge – The law on economizing energy and using energy effectively took effect in the beginning of 2011. According to Nghiem Vu Khai, Deputy Chair of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology and Environment Committee, if the law can be implemented strictly, the electricity shortage will be eased.

The potentials of saving energy and electricity of Vietnam are believed to be as high as 20-30 percent. The law on economizing energy and using energy effectively took effect on January 1, 2011. Do you think that the law needs to be implemented immediately even without the guidance documents that are to be issued by relevant ministries and branches?

Nghiem Vu Khai, Deputy Chair of the National Assembly’s Science, Technology and Environment Committee

Yes, I do. Urban areas are lighted in an unreasonable way. A lot of industries are using backward technologies which consume too much power to make a unit of products.  In addition, many people do not have the sense of how to save electricity. These issues need to be pushed forward first to take measures to save electricity.

Besides, you can see that one of the most important factors that lead to the electricity shortage was the overproduction of cement and steel. Therefore, the government should set up a policy stating that the cement and steel projects which are not listed in the industries’ development strategies must arrange electricity themselves, or they must purchase electricity from power plants at reasonable prices. We won’t let one cement or steel plant consume the volume of electricity equal to 50 percent of the total volume of electricity consumed by the whole province or city, which forces power companies to regularly cut electricity.

Enterprises have been urged to renovate technologies and equipments. However, it will take them time to do this. In the meantime, the serious electricity shortage is a big threat to the economic growth. What should we do?

The State should immediately apply financial policies that encourage businesses and people to save electricity. For example, we should allow enterprises to shorten the equipment amortization period, or give incentives to enterprises that buy generators to arrange electricity for themselves. We can also offer corporate income tax payment delay for 3-6 months, to be applied to the enterprises which invest in electricity generators.

As for household consumption, though we are striving to apply a market pricing mechanism (the sale prices truly reflect the production costs) instead of a subsidization mechanism, the electricity prices remain low. Therefore, high income earners do not think that they need to save energy. I think that it is necessary to expedite marketization of electricity prices.

Thermopower is developing very slowly. Vietnam still relies on hydropower and the resources for hydropower development are being exhausted. We can only expect to develop nuclear power after 2020. What should we do now in order to settle the electricity shortage?

We need to give financial support and offer other preferences in order to encourage people to economize energy and use energy effectively. We should also mobilize capital from different sources and heavily invest to encourage scientific research, and to develop and apply advanced technologies to effectively use energy.

Vietnam has a great potential to develop renewable and clean energy, including wind and solar energy, or energy generated from industrial and agricultural wastes. In the first stage, it will take a lot of money to use renewable energy due to the high investment rates. However, in the next stages energy prices will slowly decrease. I believe that if we have reasonable policies, we will be able to encourage people and enterprises to use renewable energy.

Source: Dau tu