Vietnam: Greening the power sector in Vietnam

The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) is sharing Danish experiences on integrating renewable energy into the power system, with its emerging partner economies. In China several years of cooperation has shown remarkable results. Now a similar cooperation has been initiated in Vietnam.

In Vietnam, DEA has entered into an agreement with The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) about low carbon development of the Vietnamese economy with particular focus on the energy sector. Under the agreement a cooperation has been launched on the strengthening of the planning for renewable energy in the power sector.

In spite of a large potential for renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydro and biomass, most of the new power generation capacity in Vietnam is based on coal. Thus the power sector is foreseen to account for more than 70% of the growth in CO2 emissions in the country over the coming decade according to official projections.

The current framework applied for power development planning does not support a detailed study of the impacts of integrating large amounts of fluctuating renewable energy into the system. In order for the government to set more ambitious targets, a new analysis framework as applied in China will be introduced in Vietnam with Danish assistance.

The key stakeholders involved in power development planning in Vietnam, including MOIT and other related ministries as well as science institutions have been introduced to the Balmorel model at a workshop held in July this year. The model was very well received, and the key stakeholders are committed to make use of the framework to further inform the power sector development.

A pilot model for the Vietnamese power sector is under development. In September a training course will be held for energy planners in using and further developing the model. Later on in 2015 a detailed analysis of the latest draft power development plan will be undertaken using Balmorel to inform the planning for renewable energy integration and assess the impact of further increasing the RE targets. This analysis will be used by MOIT to finalise the power development plan.

Read more about the Danish-Vietnamese cooperation here

About the Danish-Vietnamese cooperation, Materials on the Danish-Vietnamese cooperation

Jørgen Hvid
Specialkonsulent
Center for Global Rådgivning og Forhandling
Tlf.: 33 92 68 25
jhv@ens.dk