Ho Chi Minh City plans to invest around VND1.4 trillion (US$70 million) in bio-technology during the period 2010-2015, with 89 percent of the amount or VND1.2 trillion coming from state budget.

The Japanese House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations adopted an agreement on cooperating, developing and using nuclear energy for peaceful purposes between Japan and Vietnam on December 2.

“We are compiling a set of assessment standards for high buildings and urban areas,” said Nguyen Van Tat, vice chairman of the architects association, to the Daily at the seminar on green solutions for project development on Thursday.

Ninh Thuan Province said on Monday the development of two nuclear power projects would serve as a catalyst to attract more investment into the central province, despite earlier warnings that investors would walk away over safety concerns.

Experts are urging the Government to provide industry with tax breaks and access to credit to encourage the use of energy-efficient technologies.

Accordingly, the two sides will go ahead with My Ly and Nam Mo hydroelectric power projects in Ky Son district, Nghe An province, and draw up plans for further cooperation and investment in hydropower between Vietnam and Laos.

Thus, the rate of power loss has reduced over the years. In 1997, power loss of medium voltage grid of the whole company was 10.35%, was 4.24% in 2010 and decreased to 3.66% in the first 6 months of 2011. Calculating by the current electric prices, with 1% of power loss reduced, Bac Ninh Power Company saves VND 10.5 billion for the State.

Attending the conference were energy experts, energy managers, electric equipment manufacturers and more than 100 enterprises in the province of Dong Nai.

Dinh Vu Steel JSC (Dinh Vu Economic Zone - Dong Hai Ward - Hai An District – Hai Phong) is the first commercial steel embryo manufacturing enterprise in the North. With the capacity of 200,000 tons per year, electricity consumed in the production process of the plant is very large.

In recent times, many enterprises in Quang Ngai have effortfully improved equipment and technologies to improve product quality and save energy, especially electricity.

The general chair of the World Council for Renewable Energy has suggested that the Government have policies that reward producers of electricity from wind and other natural resources, and encourage making the most of resources available in the country.

Work began yesterday on building a dam across the Song Bac River for a hydropower plant in northern Ha Giang Province's Quang Binh District.

Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) on Tuesday signed a credit agreement worth US$1 billion with Export-Import Bank of the U.S. to fund a major wind power development plan in the Mekong Delta in 2011-2015, said Nguyen Viet Cuong, general director of VDB’s Transaction Office 2.

Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN) and Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) inked a contract in Hanoi on Sept. 28 to provide consultancy for the Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plant in Ninh Hai district of the central Ninh Thuan province.

Vietnam and the Netherlands are expected to boost their energy cooperation under a series of agreements which were signed during Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit from September 27 to October 1.

The capital is set to experience power shortages of 15-20 per cent during the course of next year due to slow progress in the instalment of a power transmission line system and transformer stations.

The IAEA Director General emphasized that ensuring nuclear safety and security is now the agency’s top priority, especially after the recent Fukushima nuclear incidents in Japan.

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the business community should be encouraged to participate in the development of green growth. Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Tran Hong Ha emphasized this at the closing of the ASEM forum on green growth in Hanoi on October 4.

A solution to which the power sector attaches special attention to overcome power shortages is to promote energy saving programs. In particular, power saving solutions in industrial factories, which are considered to have the largest saving potential, are of great importance.

As forecasted by EVN, under the basic plan, load demand in the last six months of the year will reach 56.949 billion kWh, 8.23% higher than the same period of 2010. Water flow of hydropower reservoirs in the last four months of the year shall reach the frequency of 65%; hydropower reservoirs shall reach the normal water levels at the end of the year.

As an enterprise with 100% foreign owned capital, the production line of Binh An Co., Ltd is well equipped. This enterprise is specialized in producing fresh water from raw water pumped from Dong Nai River. Power consumption of the company is mainly for water pumping, lighting and air conditioning.

With such effort, the company's products are always accepted by the market and it is gaining more and more customers. The company's products have been exported to many countries around the world including many difficult markets like the UK, France, Netherlands and Canada.

Also, during the operation of energy using equipment in the building, the building management board always upholds the management, operation and maintenance of equipment to ensure that power consuming systems always operate in the best conditions.

With an output of about 100 million tons of cement in 2015, the total power consumption of this sector is predicted to be about 9 billion kWh of electricity, while the average saving rate is just approximately 30%.

With the development orientation of biofuels, Petro Vietnam Oil Corporation (PV Oil) focuses on developing distribution systems, investment and upgrading infrastructure so as to build 400 stores throughout the country by the end of this year to provide about 50.000m3 of E5 Ethanol bio petrol to the market.

Lighting is one of the important industries, which consumes 25% of the total national commercial electricity, plays an important role in socio-economic development of the country, contributes to political and social security of urban areas.