Urgent problem

Since the directives of the Government and the Prime Minister on energy efficient use in general and electricity efficient use in particular came into life, awareness of people and businesses about the problem has been raised and more efficient energy and energy saving solutions have been implemented.

However, energy resource management and exploitation are still limited, leading to inefficiency in energy exploitation and use. Plus, there is a growing energy demand, behind-scheduled status of several power projects which results in insufficient domestic supply for the need and increasing imports of energy.

Therefore, Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW of the Politburo on the orientation of Vietnam's national energy development strategy to 2030, vision to 2045, dated February 11 2020, stated the directive viewpoint: “Economical and efficient use of energy and environmental protection must be considered an crucial national policy and responsibility of the whole country. Developing synchronous mechanisms and policies, and strong and feasible sanctions to encourage investment in and use of energy-saving and environment-friendly technologies and equipment, contributing to boosting labor productivity and innovative growth models”.

Mr. Dang Hai Dung - Deputy Chief Officer of the Steering Committee of Energy Efficiency, Ministry of Industry and Trade, presented a proposal to amend and supplement the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy at the National Energy Efficiency Conference in 2022.

At the same time, in Clause 1, Part II of the Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW, there is a new point that requires renovating mechanisms and policies, developing an energy efficient market aligned with completing the mechanism, policies and market-based tools to promote economical and efficient use of energy. The purpose aims to save up to 7% of total final energy consumption by 2030 and up to 14% by 2045 (compared to the normal development scenario); reduce 15% of energy activities’ greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 and 20% in 2045.

In addition, tasks clarified in Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW include developing new tools and solutions in the field of economical and efficient use of energy. They consist of developing tax, land, loan and loan guarantee mechanisms for projects on energy efficiency; building legal basis to form and effectively operate funds, completing energy-related legal framework and promoting energy service model (ESCO). Those tasks aim for sustainable energy development and promote energy efficiency towards socialization, financial independence, and non-duplication to the State’s budget and limiting enterprises’ potential costs increase of production and operation.

On May 18, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) issued Document No. 2682/BCT-TKNL on survey, evaluation, implementation and development of orientations to amend and supplement the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy. This will be a database to build legal-support tools to promote energy efficiency activities. At the same time, focusing on corridor legislation development to assure qualities of consulting service, energy audit, energy management and training to ensure the market’s transparency and efficiency.

Solving the problem

To solve the problems and legitimize the viewpoints of Resolution 55/NQ-TW, at the National Energy Saving Conference, organized by MOIT on the 14th July 7 2022, Mr. Dang Hai Dung, Deputy Chief Officer of the Steering Committee for Energy Saving, MOIT, emphasized the task of reviewing, amending and supplementing the Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation, precisely:

In terms of energy efficiency regulations at energy-using facilities (Articles 32, 33 and 34 of the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy), it needs to consider and adjust energy use levels for current key energy-using facilities in the industrial and civil construction sectors, add specific provisions on the obligation to comply with the Law in accordance with the current situation, and detail mandatory regulations on development and application of energy management at key energy-using facilities in the fields of industry, construction and transportation. Besides, it is also necessary to strengthen the local responsibility in monitoring local enterprises in applying standards and complying regulations in terms of energy consumption norms and energy efficiency.

In terms of regulations of energy consulting services, energy audits, and human resource training for energy efficiency (Article 34, Article 35, Article 43 Law on Energy Efficiency and Conservation), it needs to study and propose detailed regulations on business conditions for organizations practicing energy audit in accordance with the Law on Economical Use of Energy and the Law on Business Investment 2020, develop support mechanisms and form an ESCOs ecosystem, and study the appropriate term of the energy management/energy audit certification or re-training period for knowledge updating to ensure the role of energy manager/energy auditor. The need for building regulations on qualifications of energy audits/energy management training institutes is also required.  

In terms of legal framework building, to develop tools for enabling ESCO market development (Articles 41 and 42 of the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy), there are needs for availability of an Energy Saving Fund model to support ESCOs’ activities, research and propose financial tools, such as capital guarantee, risk sharing, technical support to support capital arrangement, profit sharing, risk sharing and capital mobilization. Besides, it is needed to provide funding and technical assistance through ESCOs’ viable energy efficient projects  in a capital shortage situation, and promote a variety of energy efficiency investments including venture, equity, leasing, carbon credits, credit guarantee and technical assistance.

In terms of EE managerial issues of vehicles and equipment (Articles 37, 38, 39, and 40), it is necessary to review and study incentive schemes for enterprises’ investment in developing market-oriented products with higher efficiency levels, step-by-step eliminate energy-inefficient vehicles, equipment and products, and add Highest Energy Efficiency Label regulations and additional regulations of Energy Labels application for building material products, like glass and adobe bricks, to accelerate market transition toward higher levels of energy-efficient use.

In terms of policies on improving decentralization and effectiveness of EE state-managerial activities, it is necessary to strengthen the managerial decentralization among agencies at central and local levels and concretize the roles and responsibilities of the national focal agencies, ministries and localities, especially the focal agencies in charged of organizing the implementation of EE activities in the provinces and cities under the central government, add specific regulations on procurement of EE equipment investment in the state-budgeted projects, decentralizing managerial activities of energy labeling for constructional products and means of transport to the Ministry of Construction and Ministry of Transport (Article 39), strengthen authorities’ post-inspectional activities on energy efficiency in business and communities, and remove difficulties for EE practice. Besides, there are needs for completing process of decentralization, coordination, and organization of statistics related to energy use, including construction and transportation fields, in accordance with the provisions of Law on Statistics (No. 89/2015/QH13), and, at the same time, strengthen the statistical network among localities, and issue sanctions against individuals and organizations that violate. 

Tố Quyên wrote. Giang Nguyen translated