Big Goals

In 2021, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1658/QD-TTg approving the National Strategy on Green Growth for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050 (Green Growth Strategy). The Green Growth Strategy focuses on exploiting and using energy economically and efficiently, increasing the use of renewable energy and green energy.

At the same time, Vietnam has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). In addition, Vietnam has also joined the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP).

To concretize the above strategies and commitments, on May 15, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 500/QD-TTg approving the National Power Development Plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050 (Power Plan VIII). Power Plan VIII prioritizes the strong development of renewable energy sources for electricity production, reaching a rate of about 30.9 - 39.2% by 2030, with a vision to 2050, the renewable energy rate will reach 67.5 - 71.5%.

Yesterday (August 8), at the Workshop on the topic of promoting green energy development, Prof. Dr. Le Anh Tuan - Chairman of the Council of Hanoi University of Science and Technology said that in reality, state agencies have issued many policies on the development of clean and sustainable energy. In particular, the approval of the Power Plan VIII with the goal of reducing the use of fossil energy and increasing the use of renewable energy and hydrogen is an important basis for the development of green energy.

However, Professor Le Anh Tuan said that the timeline for implementing green energy goals is a challenge. He analyzed that Vietnam's hydrogen energy development strategy by 2030 will produce about 100 - 500 thousand tons of hydrogen, and by 2050, it will produce 10 - 20 million tons of hydrogen, meeting about 10% of total final energy consumption. This is a very difficult goal. "20 years ago, when I was a PhD student in Europe, some countries were piloting hydrogen. Until now, they are still piloting but have not been able to increase capacity," said Professor Le Anh Tuan.

Explaining the difficulty of developing hydrogen energy, Professor Le Anh Tuan said, “Hydrogen production technology may not be difficult or costly, but storage and transportation are different stories. The cost of storage and transportation is four times higher than the cost of production,” Professor Tuan said, adding that our country’s hydrogen target by 2030, with a vision to 2050, is truly challenging.

The Chairman of the Council of Hanoi University of Science and Technology also said that to ensure that our country reaches Net Zero by 2050, in addition to developing wind power, LNG power, solar power, biomass power, etc., it is necessary to develop nuclear power. However, the current Power Plan VIII does not clearly mention this content.

Many mechanisms are still missing.

According to Dr. Nguyen Quoc Thap - Chairman of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Association, the construction of power plants is taking place quite slowly due to the lack of mechanisms. Specifically, according to the Power Plan VIII, the total capacity of gas-fired power projects by 2030 is 30,424 MW with 23 projects, of which 10 projects use domestically exploited gas and 13 projects use LNG.

However, at present, only O Mon 1 Thermal Power Plant has been completed and Nhon Trach 3 and 4 LNG projects are under construction, reaching about 85%. In addition, there are up to 18 projects still in the process of implementing investment procedures, including 9 LNG projects. "Even the feasible My Son LNG project is still being submitted and has not been approved," said Mr. Thap.

Regarding offshore wind power, only one project has been licensed for survey and research. “The construction of planned power plants is taking place slowly due to many factors, mainly due to the lack of mechanisms and legal basis for implementation,” said Dr. Nguyen Quoc Thap.

This person said that there are many challenges and difficulties in implementing the Power Plan VIII due to procedural issues, financial mechanisms, capital arrangements, government guarantee mechanisms, legal frameworks, etc. "In particular, LNG and offshore wind power are facing many problems, from the legal framework to infrastructure, consumption mechanisms, selling prices, etc.", Mr. Thap shared.

Therefore, this person believes that it is necessary to amend many laws, including the Electricity Law, Tax Law, Environmental Protection Law, Investment Law, Construction Law... In addition, it is necessary to amend the charter, operation and financial regulations of a number of state-owned economic groups such as PVN, TKV, EVN so that these units can proactively arrange capital and represent the Government to guarantee for foreign investors.

Dr. Nguyen Quoc Thap also said that the Government should report to the National Assembly Standing Committee to consider issuing a specialized resolution including necessary conditions to allow parallel implementation with the process of perfecting the Laws in the spirit of that specialized resolution. "This is necessary and sufficient for the implementation of national planning goals in the energy sector, especially in the fields of LNG and offshore wind power," Dr. Thap commented.

Sharing this view, Dr. Vo Tri Thanh - Director of the Institute for Brand and Competitiveness Strategy Research said that for a developing country like ours, waiting for the completion of mechanisms, policies and laws before implementing them will take a long time and be late, losing opportunities. "In energy development, there should be a mechanism to both implement and complete policies and laws," said Mr. Thanh.