Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - The south-central coastal province of Ninh Thuan hasmade leaps and bounds to become Vietnam’s leading locality in renewable energydevelopment.

That was the message from Vice Chairman of Ninh Thuan People’s Committee Phan TanCanh as he addressed the Asia virtual conference.

Ninh Thuan is a locality that has great potential in renewable energydevelopment, such as wind power and solar power, as the coastal locality isblessed with abundant sunshine and wind. It has wind speeds of 7.5 metres persecond, the highest rate in the country, for 10 months of the year, making itideal for reliable operations of wind turbines and wind power development, Canhsaid.

As for sunshine, the province gets more than 2,800 hours of sunshine per year,also the highest in the country, with average solar radiation of 1,780-2,015kWh per year, which is ideal for solar power generation.

Ninh Thuan is also home to the Ca Na seaport complex, which is able to handlecommercial LNG ships with a capacity of up to 250,000cu.m. The port is locatednext to a 6,000MW gas power plant complex and the Ca Na Industrial Park, whichis convenient for liquefaction, making Ninh Thuan the best clean energydevelopment location in the southern region, the official noted.

With such potential, Ninh Thuan has attracted investment in a large number ofrenewable and clean energy projects, one of the province’s socio-economicdevelopment priorities.

Over the years, Ninh Thuan has received consistent support from the NationalAssembly, the Government, ministries, and sectors, especially since theGovernment issued Resolution 115/NQ-CP dated August 31, 2018, on specificmechanisms and policies for the province’s socio-economic development in the2018-23 period.

Under the resolution, the Government gave approval for Ninh Thuan to developinto a national renewable energy hub, according to the provincial leader.

To implement this policy, the provincial Party's Committee issued ResolutionNo.20-NQ/TU dated January 25, 2022, to build the province into a renewableenergy hub of the nation by 2025 with a vision to 2030.

The provincial Party's Committee also issued Plan No. 239/KH-TU dated May 26,2020, to implement the Politburo’s Resolution 55-NQ/TW on the National EnergyDevelopment Strategy by 2030 with a vision to 2045.

Cảnh said: “The resolution and plan by the provincial Party's Committeedemonstrates its steadfast leadership in promoting the province’s strengths inthe energy sector, especially renewables, ensuring energy security, promotingsustainable development of the sector, and mobilising all the resources neededto turn the province into the country’s renewable energy hub.”

During the remarks, he also attributed a number of positive impacts in theprovince’s socio-economic development to renewable energy development.

Three years since implementing the Government Resolution 115/NQ-CP for the2019-21 period, Ninh Thuan has seen challenges become opportunities, andattracted investment to help the province become a national renewable energyhub, Canh noted.

Renewable energy development has achieved a breakthrough and transformed theeconomic structure, contributing to the province’s socio-economic development.

By the end of 2021, the province was home to 53 renewable energy projects (11wind power plants, 32 solar plants and 10 hydropower projects) with a totalcapacity of 3,176.5MW connected to the national grid, he said, stressing thatthey generated 6.3 billion kWh of electricity last year, creating added valueof 3.614 trillion VND (158 million USD), up 59.8 percent from three yearsearlier and contributing 6.84 per cent to the province’s economy in 2021.

Developing renewable energy projects has enhanced land use efficiency,especially the value of land areas deemed not suitable for agriculture, theofficial claimed.

Canh added: “The annual value added by unproductive agricultural land is only 10million VND per hectare compared with 3.84 billion VND (equivalent to 1.92million kWh per hectare) when the land is used for solar power production.”

Developing renewable energy reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 97.9 percentcompared to traditional means like coal power, contributing to achieving climatechange response goals and ensuring environmental protection. Moreover, thedevelopment of rooftop solar power serves both production and households’ useas well as increases people’s incomes. To date, the total rooftop solar poweroutput in Ninh Thuan is estimated at 375 MWp (megawatt peak).

He also welcomed ability of wind and solar power generation to create jobs. In2021, the renewable energy industry provided jobs to around 6,000 people,accounting for 2.3 percent of the total number of employees working in siximportant economic sectors in the province.

He pledged that the province will give priority to power projects usingstate-of-the-art technology and requiring the least amount of land.

“Battery panels in solar systems must have high capacity and use trackingtechnology to rotate in the direction of the largest solar radiation. Prioritywill be given to large capacity wind turbines,” he said.

The renewable energy sector is one of Ninh Thuan’s three economic pillarsalongside tourism and agriculture, and has propelled the province into the listof five localities with the fastest economic growth rate in the last fiveyears, according to the provincial representative.

“The sector has also created a driving force for the development of otherindustries such as real estate, construction, trade, and services, effectivelyexploiting uncultivated and dry lands, contributing to improving transportinfrastructure for the operation of energy plants and serving productionactivities and people’s travel needs.”

“Ninh Thuan has become the country’s leader in renewable energy by turningdifficulties into advantages for sustainable development,” the province’s vicechair said.

However, Canh also expressed inhibitions about some negative impacts from the"overdevelopment" of renewable energy.

“The number of projects has increased too rapidly in a short time, leading to adeterioration of roads where they are concentrated,” he said.

“Fumes and dust caused by vehicles transporting equipment in the area havenegatively affected the environment and people’s lives.”

The rapid development of rooftop solar of under 1MW at farms has affectedtransmission in the power grid as well, Canh added.

From 2017 to September 2020, one of the biggest challenges was the lack ofcompatibility between power projects and transmission lines, resulting inoverloading and preventing plants from operating at full capacity.

In early 2021, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, factories stoppedor reduced production, and power demand fell as a result, leading to oversupplyof electricity, and so the province had to reduce the output of power plants,according to Canh.

Still, the province will persevere with its renewable hub vision given the hugepotentials, he said, adding that Ninh Thuan also wants the Government to directthe Ministry of Industry and Trade to include its power source and grid in theNational Power Development Plan by 2030 with a vision to 2045./.