There remain limitations in clean energy development in Vietnam, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong said on February 27. 

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong addressed the event on February 27 

Developing renewable energy would result in higher electricity prices for consumers, the official said at a government-private workshop on clean energy technology jointly held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) of Vietnam and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) in Hanoi. 

According to the official, at the end of 2018, Vietnam’s electricity system ranked second among the 10 Southeast Asian nations and 23rd globally in terms of capacity, which reaches nearly 50,000 MW at present. 

The country’s power demand in service of socio-economic development has been basically fulfilled, he said, pointing out adverse impact on national sustainable development such as environment pollution and exhausted natural resources. 

Given this, the Vietnamese Government has issued many policies to ease these impact while ensuring power supply.

Vuong said the total capacity of hydropower plants hit 22,000 MW in late 2018, and that of solar and win power plants is expected to stand at 1,000 MW and 1,500 MW, respectively, at the end of this year. 

The estimate is even higher than the target set by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in late 2016, with wind power projected at 800 MW and solar power, 850 MW, by 2020. 

With an attractive price mechanism, many investors have registered to invest in wind and solar projects in Vietnam, whose number is likely to surpass the growth target of 20 percent as set by the Government, he said. 

Japanese Deputy Ambassador Daisuke Okabe said the MoIT and the METI have held ministerial talks which touched upon cooperation in energy between the two countries. In November 2017, the two ministries signed a memorandum of understanding on clean energy in November 2017. 

The diplomat expressed his hope that the workshop will find out ways to facilitate new activities in the low-carbon industry and promote cooperation in the private sector.-VNA