Despite Rich Potential, Vietnam Still Lacks Clean Energy

 

Wind power is the most feasible solution for the coming years because investments in this field are very promising. A series of international banks such as the World Bank, ADB, U.S. Eximbank, KFW .. are ready to offer loans for effective wind power projects. Many businesses have taken action to inject money into the energy sector. Wind power networks can contribute to more than 5 percent of the 3000MW in total energy demand by 2020, making Vietnam one of the leading Asian countries in wind power. Meanwhile, Vietnam can save the state budget and reduce the cost of more than half compared to diesel-powered generators, reduce electricity imported from China and create a lot of jobs and supporting industries. Necessary and sufficient conditions for wind energy development in Vietnam is that the government should have more incentives in attracting investment policy such as increase the purchase price of electricity and invest in power transmission system.

 

Another big power source wasted due to power purchase policy of the State is Biomass, Biogas and electricity from waste. This type is currently purchased by EVN for US$4cent/kwh so 41 sugar factories and tens of thousands of large and small farms with nearly 100 million tonnes of manure discharge waste directly into the environment because they did not dare to invest in generators. Therefore, the increase in Biomass, Biogas and waste electricity prices like wind power is extremely urgent, so we can exploit potential 1000MWof electricity and protect the environment.

 

Regarding biofuels, Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world having excess material for export which is cassava chips, with fresh cassava production of about 10 million tonnes / year, and in 2012 more than 3 million tonnes of cassava chips worth US$1 billion were exported. It has great potential for production of biofuels to reduce petroleum imports, reduce pollution and reduce costs of Biofuels, and bring double benefit for the country. But also due to policies of Vietnam by the end of 2014 we will have had E5 gas, much slower compared to other ASEAN countries such as Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. They have issued the policy and then imported Ethanol biofuel E10-E20 , then investors spend money on Ethanol and Biodiesel factories.

 

While people of ASEAN countries gain benefit from cheap biofuel E20-E85 and environmental protection, and health care, even though they usually go by car not like more than 30 million riders in Vietnam. Vietnam’s annual lung disease increases and intangible losses from environmental pollution can not be calculated. Thailand is the best example with high income per capita but prices of taxi using bio-gasoline, LPG and CNG are less than half of Vietnam’s. Ethanol plants create income from cassava for thousands of families, reduce poverty, and rescue many farmers from forced price by China's traders, reduce the export of unprocessed cassava, save foreign currency from imported oil, and create benefits in all aspects for the environment, the economy, transportation which need the state to immediately reform financial aid policies. This is a new industry and extremely important to the country in the future, but it is facing numerous difficulties compared to other ASEAN countries.

 

Mr Dang Quoc Toan - CEO of Asiapetro cum Founder of Association Biofuels and Renewable Energy said international energy organizations and the World Bank assess that Vietnam is a country with great potential in renewable energy including wind energy of more than 513,000 MW head of Southeast Asia with good wind speeds of 6 m / s or more. Dozens of wind power projects, solar energy along the 3260km coastline and islands of Vietnam have been granted investment licenses, implementing and operating with total registered capital of hundreds of millions of dollars and received financial support from countries such as US and European countries. To quickly open the potential renewable energy sector as well as to mobilize the participation of all economic sectors, Vietnam should develop and promulgate laws on renewable energy regarding associations, domestic and international organizations and experts.

 

In addition, Vietnam should use the sources of funds for green growth, sustainable development assistance loans of international organizations. These funds will stimulate households to borrow and spend money on invested solar power grid, grid diminution and stop using polluting and costly diesel. While the State does not promptly enact tariff FIT in solar power purchase support for people and organizations to the grid, the solution to take the highest price of electricity for solar power producers, using two electric meters and allow households to generate solar power for the grid in peak daytime hours and then use equivalent power off the grid without paying money. This policy will immediately trigger a power grid in the city, and to reduce the load, save the state billions of dollars in investment in power plants and transmission lines, raise awareness and activeness in savings energy of the people in all situations of natural disasters, when they can use solar energy and rain water.