Vietnam is grappling to generate
enough energy to power the economy.
Vietnam’s electricity consumption
has grown twice as fast as the country’s economic growth rate.
The average energy consumption inVietnam grew 13 percent from 2006-2010, and by about 11 percent from 2011-2015,
said Le Tuan Phong, deputy head of the General Directorate of Energy. The
country is on the path towards powering itself by 2030, Phong said.
The country’s power production is
expected to grow at an annual rate of 14 percent between 2015 and 2030.
Fossil fuels still dominate
Vietnamese energy consumption. According to the World Bank, over 66.2 percent
of the country’s energy comes from fossil fuels.
Vietnam’s annual coal output is
currently about 40 million tons, official statistics show.
Coal has taken over from hydro
power as the leading source of electricity in Vietnam, which has recently
become a net coal importer.
In response to fast growing
demand for power, Vietnam is building more coal-fired thermal plants and buying
electricity from neighboring China as part of measures to avoid outages.
Vietnam, however, is faced with a
two-fold energy challenge. The country has to generate enough energy for
economic growth and for millions of people who still lack access to energy
services, while gradually shifting towards clean, low-carbon energy, said Tran
Dinh Thien, head of the Vietnam Economic Institute.
“Vietnam’s economic growth still
relies heavily on the exploitation of natural resources and relatively low-tech
production. Industries such as cement and steel use a colossal amount of
energy,” said Thien, adding that only 2 percent of local businesses are
high-tech driven.
The Vietnamese government should
change the country's economic structure and prioritize energy-saving
industries, Thien suggested.
Half of Vietnamese households use
solar energy
Along with the need to decrease
the reliance on fossil fuels, the country needs to build an energy sector more
focused on renewable energy, particularly solar energy.
To put Vietnam on a path to a
clean energy economy, the government plans to cut coal consumption by 30
percent by 2030.
The government has also opened up
its renewable energy sector to foreign investors, allowing them to invest in
power generation. Official statistics show that in 2013, foreign investments in
energy through the Build – Operate – Transfer model accounted for 6 percent of
total installed capacity.
The country is also restructuring
its power sector by breaking up its retail power monopoly EVN to develop a
competitive retail power market by 2030.
Vietnam is aiming to generate
enough energy to power almost every home by 2020 and increase residential solar power usage to 50 percent of households nationwide by 2050.
Source: Bao Vnexpress
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét