Vietnam doubles-down on renewable energy plan
Vietnam is planning to double its wind power generation by 2030 and will require a long-term investment of $320.6 billion (€270.7 billion) investment in order to triple renewable energy production by 2045, the nation's trade minister published in a development plan.
The plan will see wind energy capacity for the country to increase from 600MW in 2020 to over 11 GW and solar capacity is set to increase to 19GW by the decade's end.
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A report into the plan details a $128 billion (€108 billion) investment required between 2021 and 2030 required in order to meet its short-term climate goals and allow renewable energy to operate a far larger market share by the end of the decade.
In February, the Ministry for Industry and Trade (MoIT) issued its draft on "power master plan VIII," which is about national electricity development project planning for 2021-2030 but also looks ahead to 2045.
It forecasts the supply of commercial electricity to reach 491bn kWh by 2030 and 877bn kWh by 2045.
Pinsent Masons reports that installed capacity of electricity sources in the country is expected to reach 137.2 GW by 2030, which includes 27% from coal-fired thermal power, 21% from gas thermal power, 18% from hydroelectricity, 29% from wind power, solar and renewable energy and 4% from the imported sources and 1% from other types of energy from storage devices.
John Yeap, a consultant for the firm said the plan will represent a shift away from traditional energy sources such as coal, not only for Vietnam but for a number of nations in the region.
He added: "Vietnam’s approach of providing flexibility to project sponsors on the procurement of liquid natural gas, as opposed to the approach taken by its ASEAN neighbours where generally NOCs have built the required LNG import infrastructure, does however raise potential issues around procurement and cost efficiencies.
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“The ambitious target of achieving 44% of renewable energy, with the discouragement of hydro-electric power generation, is also in line with expectations, reflecting Vietnam’s significant wind and solar resource. A long coastline coupled with shallow nearshore waters provides Vietnam with the potential to be a major player in the offshore wind sector in the region.
"In this regard, whilst the offshore wind tariff may be attractive, contractual offtake arrangements that are able to attract the required capital investment will be an important structuring consideration."
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