Expansion of renewable energy sources is one of the important dimensions for promoting the development of the electricity sector to help the electricity sector meet the target of 7-10% annual growth until 2030.

The Energy Workshop "Orientations for Vietnam's power sector with Sustainable Development" took place on November 4, 2015 in Da Nang city received many positive comments and inputs from the participants on the potential of renewable energy in Vietnam and helped develop solutions for sustainable power sector. The workshop was jointly organized by the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said: "The Party and the State always pays attention and aims to develop electricity one step ahead of other sectors in order to meet the requirements of socio-economic development, security and national defense, to meet the electricity demand of the people, to ensure the national energy security. Being so attended, along with the efforts of the entire electricity industry, the national electricity system of Vietnam now has made great progress, guaranteed to provide sufficient electricity for socio-economic development requirements with high quality and improved reliability of power supply."

According to Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, WB Vice President in charge of East Asia and the Pacific: "Vietnam has provided good access to electricity for the people, with almost 100% of the population accessible to electricity. The access to electricity has also been accompanied by improved operational efficiency and service quality. The main problem today is how to meet the demands in the future, while at the same time, the sector must comply with the Government's commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the context of global climate change".

Sustainable development of the electricity sector through renewable energy

The proportion of renewable energy in electricity generation structure in Vietnam is very high with 42% of the total capacity coming from hydroelectric power, a highly ranked level in the world. Besides, the experts stressed that the potential for solar energy and wind energy in Vietnam is very large, and receiving a lot of investment from the State and the private sector.

It is suggested by experts that when the demand for energy increases, Vietnam needs to promote efficient energy use and exploitation of various energy sources to meet the needs which include coal, natural gas, wind, solar and hydropower to ensure sustainable power supply, reliability and reasonable prices.

More diversified power sources still needed

Although renewable energy potential is rich, Vietnam actually needs to restructure the domestic power supply to meet the demands in the future through increasing efficiency in the electricity production, transmission and distribution, which will also play an important role. The sector should consider participating more actively in the power market in the region. Also, the development of power generation plants with less carbon emissions can help promote economic growth in the long term.

As shown in the report "Survey on the development path of less carbon emissions for Vietnam" presented at the workshop, it is predicted that the growth scenario with less carbon emissions, which will not adversely affect the economic growth in Vietnam, may in the long run promote growth. The conclusion of the report is put forward and based on the basis of economic growth and a cleaner environment which can be developed simultaneously and can support each other in the future.

Trong Tan