Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Vietnam’s energy sector is on the right trackdeveloping and using clean and renewable energy, but there are still obstaclesahead to ensure a greener power supply, experts said.

Rapid economic development as seen a surge in demand for energy, posing greatchallenges when the primary sources like coal, oil and gas are exhausted.

Speaking at the Vietnam Energy Forum 2020 held in Hanoi on June 18, Deputy Ministerof Industry and Trade Hoang Quoc Vuong said energy has an extremely importantposition and a big impact to global sustainable development.

“Vietnam’s energy sector has seen strong development, basically meeting withdemand for production and people’s lives as well as contributing to thenational defence and security,” he said.

Demand in the past decade increased by 14.6 percent. Electricity alone saw anaverage growth rate of 9.5 percent.

It is expected that the power demand would still have growth rate of 8.5 to 9.5percent in the next five years. With the high demand, the electricity capacityshould reach 13,000-14,000 MW per year. However, the current capacity was 6,000MW, causing a need of a further 5,000-7,000 MW annually.

This has been a challenging task for the sector, Vuong said.

“The Power Development Master Plan VII has been revised since 2016 but is stilldelayed. In the context, the Government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade(MoIT) have adjustments to make to accelerate the development of clean energysuch as solar and wind with high potential.

“The Government has promulgated policies and mechanism to further promote cleanenergy development.”

Solar and wind powerhave seen strong breakthroughs. Solar energy now has a capacity of more than5,000MW and wind power of 1,000MW. It is expected the capacity of wind powerwould add 3,000-5,000 MW in one or two years.

Sharing the ideas, Hoang Tien Dung, Director of the ministry’s Electricity andRenewable Energy Authority said despite strong advances, large scale renewableenergy development has been limited. This was because power energy has not beensynchronised with the development speed of renewable energy sources. There arenot enough backup sources and storage system to integrate renewable energy on alarge scale.

Dung said: “In addition, the renewable energy development policy has not beenapplied for a long time. There is no mechanism to attract investment capitalfor renewable energy development through bidding and there is no overall studyon the development of offshore wind power projects in Vietnam.”

Meanwhile, Bui Quang Tuan, head of Vietnam Economic Institute said facingtrends in implementing green growth, ensuring environmental requirements,quality of life, a number of leading countries such as Sweden, Denmark,Scotland, Germany and China also aims to achieve 30 percent of renewable energyby 2030. Vietnam has striven to reach 20 percent of renewable energy in tenyears time. This is a big development step in the Power Development Master PlanVII.

“Currently, there is a race in using renewable energies,” he said.

“This is an objective trend, which has pressures from developing countrieswhich are facing green growth, environmental protection and reduction ofgreenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Experts said the participation of the private sector could create markets andbring higher competition. To attract the private sector, it is necessary to beequal in treatment. Private participation more deeply in the energy sectorwould not only ensure the nation's energy security, but also creates atransparent environment for the economy’s sustainability.

Dung said Government should focus on policies, transmission infrastructure anddispatching of electricity system operation.

Tuan meanwhile suggested creating policies to liberalise the renewable energymarket to attract non-governmental investment, especially FDI firms.

Vo Quang Lam, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Electricity (EVN) saidrenewable energy has seen large development and focus on some localities,affecting to the release capacity as well as the dispatching and operating theelectricity system. In particular, the country has lacked technical standardsfor rooftop solar power.

Lam said currently, some countries have strongly developed rooftop solar power.Taking the lead is Australia with 14,000 MW and Germany with 7,000 MW ofrooftop solar power.

“EVN is cooperating with GIZ to study and set up a technical system for rooftopsolar power and submit it to the MoIT and the Ministry of Science and Technologyfor approval,” he said./.