Solutions for Renewable Energy Projects

28/03/2012

On the sidelines of the second international exhibition for Renewable and Decentralised Energy Solutions (ENEREXPRO 2012), the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Department of Science and Technology Phan Cong Hop talked to Vietnam Economic News’ Lan Phuong about solutions to develop renewable energy projects.

Could you tell about the importance of renewable energy resources in the development strategy for electricity in Vietnam?

7b5d3ada3_26.3.2012.3.jpg

The benefits of renewable energy resources are undeniable in the current context of complex climate change and the fossil energy resources are gradually becoming exhausted. Therefore, the National Power Development plan in the 2011-2020 period, with vision to 2030 (Plan 7) will focus on developing renewable energy resources to gradually replace fossil energy resources such as petroleum and black coal. The new resources are expected to account for 4.5 percent of the national total power generating capacity for production and consumption by 2020 and soar to 6 percent in 2030.

Despite Vietnam is considered to be rich in renewable energy resources, the energy resource that has been exploited is mainly hydroelectricity and other resources from wind, solar and sea waves energy are only in the initial stage. The reason is that the investment priorities for renewable energy projects remain limited compared with traditional energy projects and investors are only making their exploratory steps and gathering experience to find solutions to develop these new projects. Therefore, ENEREXPRO 2012 is a big opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to strengthen cooperation with international companies, enhance their understanding of advanced technological solutions for renewable energy, and attract investment.

Faced by many difficulties, especially capital resource, what solutions has Vietnam found to develop these renewable energy resources?

Vietnam is now paying great attention to seeking solutions and new technologies to develop renewable energy projects for power generating plans. In the national programs for high-tech development, foreign projects to develop renewable energy in Vietnam are given top priorities in terms of capital borrowings and technology transfer to carry out their projects. In addition, Vietnam also has human resources training programs and other power resources to develop renewable energy. Many projects were carried out such as some wind-power plants in the Central region, a solar electricity project installed at the Ministry of Industry and Trade with supports from a German organization. Although the overall generating capacity of these projects are not high yet, they have helped Vietnam in research activities and brought more experience in the applications of modern technologies to develop renewable energy resources in Vietnam.

Renewable energy resources development is a long process. So what solutions do we need to accelerate right now?

There's no doubt about the effectiveness that renewable energy projects bring to the improvement of power supply and environment protection. However, the development of renewable energy resources is a long process and Vietnam needs to make careful preparation.

First, we need to focus on training human resources for the design, adoption and transfer of technology. Second, we should conduct surveys to gather information relating to the renewable energy resources, e.g the geographical location where the project will be carried out, so that projects could be implemented effectively. In addition, enterprises in the electricity sector need to take full advantages of the trade fairs and exhibitions to find partners, absorb their technologies and experience for the implementation of domestic projects. Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has been closely coordinating with related ministries and agencies to seek the best solutions to develop renewable energy resources.

By K.A

Solutions for Renewable Energy Projects

Clean energy brings stable electricity supply to Truong Sa Archipelago

National Energy Efficiency Programme - Ministry of Industry and Trade