During a workshop in the aftermath of COP26, energy stakeholders were discussing to increase the share of renewable energy in power generation to up to 75 percent by 2045, in the light of the recent commitments made at COP26.

Hoang Tien Dung, head of the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, confirmed that Vietnam is likely to make a sharp transition from fossil fuels to clean and renewable energy.

He said that according to the latest draft of the Power Development Plan VIII (2021-2030 with vision until 2045), Vietnam is ready to increase offshore wind power capacity to 4 GW from 1 GW and onshore wind power capacity to nearly 17.34 GW from about 1.26 GW by 2030. In addition, a huge ramp up of rooftop solar pv is planned.

According to the World Bank (WB)’s Offshore Wind Roadmap for Vietnam, Vietnam can even have an offshore wind power capacity of 5 – 19 GW by 2030, generating around 60 billion USD in Gross Value Added for the country.

Tran Van Tung, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, the expansion of renewable energies would bring many benefits to Vietnam, including lower operation costs, as costs for renewables will continue to decline in the upcoming decades while those of fossil fuel sources are set to rise, he added. “Vietnam needs to push investment in new and green technologies and dedicate resources to developing these with due technology transfers,” Tung said. He added that as the ratio of renewable energy capacity increases, more investments are needed in transmission capacity. The Power Development Plan VIII will include both capacity and transmission development, which will help resolve distribution issues, he added.

Further work is ongoing on how an ambitious sectoral renewable energy target might be achieved.

Sources: Vietnam+, VNExpress online