Supporting Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) countries to build infrastructure, particularly in electricity transmission and energy, remains a priority of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). With support from the bank, the three Indochinese nations of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have received positive assistance for electricity and clean energy development.
Support for clean energy development
The ADB Board of Directors recently approved a regional technical assistance project, to be funded by a US$4 million grant, for Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to scale up the use of biomass waste in the agriculture sector. The project is due to begin in July 2011 and will be completed by December 2014.
The project is part of ADB’s Energy for All Initiative, which increases access to clean, modern energy for inclusive growth and sustainable human development.
ADB will administer the grant and carry out the project in the three countries to meet its growing need for clean energy and food security for poor rural households. Biomass waste, such as rice husks and animal manure, is abundant in GMS countries but is not efficiently used as a source of clean energy or as fertiliser. At the same time, the growing practice of large-scale crop production for bio-fuel poses a threat to food security by reducing food production and forest land.
Ms Sununtar Setboonsarng, Principal Natural Resources and Agriculture Economist, in ADB’s Southeast Asia Department, said: “Promoting more efficient use of biomass can simultaneously address the goals of fighting climate change and improving the well-being of the rural poor, which are often seen as competing priorities.”
The project will fund pilot investment projects to scale up biomass technologies such as household biogas systems, biochar kilns, and improved cooking stoves. The project will also conduct studies, build human and institutional capacity on biomass investment, and promote regional exchange among the GMS countries.
Electricity for more poor people
A fast-growing economy has raised the pressure on Vietnam’s energy demand. ADB has increased its support for Vietnam to produce, transmit and distribute electricity to address this burning issue.
In past years, the development of power systems in distant provinces and localities where poverty rates are high has been a strong concern of the Vietnamese Government in a bid to narrow social and economic development gap among regions in the country, and help rural people develop their economic conditions and improve their spiritual and material life.
After a period of deployment, bringing electricity to poor people has yielded tremendous results.
The policy which allows the power sector to receive locally invested low-voltage electricity systems to retail consumers has helped millions of households, mainly residing in rural and mountainous areas, to enjoy a fair pricing policy as urban citizens and not be discriminated against.
The success of this policy is partly the result of the strong attraction of investment capital to rural power grid infrastructure development. In particular, with the assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), many energy projects in Vietnam have produced the desired outcomes.
Most recently, ADB funded US$154 million in an investment project to develop renewable energy, and expand and improve the power grid for poor households in remote areas from 2009 to 2015. An estimated half a million will benefit from this project.
Moreover, while Vietnamese power demand rises strongly, 16 percent a year, hydropower output is only able to meet nearly 40 percent of the new demand, so power shortages in recent years have greatly affected Vietnam’s sustainable economic development.
Therefore, the ADB-funded Mong Duong 1 thermal power plant also helps ease the power outage problem for Vietnam.
Mr Pham Trong Thuc, Deputy Director of Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said after the Mong Duong 1 thermal power project in Quang Ninh province, with US$927.85 million financed by ADB, goes on stream, it will add 1,000 MW to the national grid. The investment in Mong Duong 1 thermal power plant will also help reduce dependence on hydroelectric sources, increase thermal electricity in the system, and stabilising power supply during dry months.
With this assistance, ADB is coordinating with Vietnamese competent agencies to implement the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programme. Vietnam is one of six priority countries that receive a credit of US$1 billion for clean energy investment from ADB.
ADB funded US$120 million and US$306 million to the Northern Power Transmission Project and the Expanded Northern Power Transmission Project in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The bank also lent US$196 million to the Song Bung 4 hydropower project, helping Vietnam to ensure energy security.
Mai Ngoc
Vietnamese
