Viet Nam is at the forefront of a growing
number of countries who are transforming the way they generate and use energy,
said Deputy Minister Hoang Quoc Vuong of the Ministry of Industry and Trade at
a recent forum in Ha Noi. In his speech, Deputy Minister Vuong outlined a
series of initiatives the Viet Nam government has undertaken targeting reduced
emissions to mitigate the dangers of climate change and meet the goals of the
Paris Agreement. Among other things, he noted there is a fundamental need to
transform the country’s energy sector away from fossil fuels and towards clean,
renewable energy such as wind power. Today the country has virtually no wind
generation, but the Government has set an ambitious target to increase the wind
power capacity to 6,000 megawatts (MW) by 2030, which, if achieved, would be a
remarkable accomplishment. With the support of the Danish Energy Agency the
Government is mapping out a Wind Energy Program that will craft a competitive
bidding mechanism for large-scale renewable energy development and a feed-in
tariff for smaller-scale systems. The gist of the program is that it will
require Government owned utilities to buy all clean power generated by
non-utility producers at favourable standardized prices that will attract and
encourage early and substantial investment in wind projects. Henrik Breum, an
adviser to the Danish Energy Agency Centre for Global Cooperation, in turn told
those attending the conference about Denmark’s experiences with developing wind
energy. Mr Breum noted that before the 1973 oil crisis, 99% of electricity in
Denmark was sourced from fossil fuel-fired power stations. But things changed
dramatically in the four subsequent decades as Denmark embarked on a national
policy of low-carbon energy development. In 2014, renewable energy accounted
for over half (56%) of the total power generated in Denmark, which is the
highest percentage of any country around the globe. Wind energy requires large
upfront investment, so the Danish government has adopted smart finance polices
and set appropriate electricity prices, which favour the use of wind power in
the national grid. For his part, Steve
Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, noted that wind
power currently accounts for 4% of the world’s electricity requirements and
indicted that the percentage could climb to as high as 8% by 2020.Over the
longer term, he optimistically speculated that it could hit 18-20% by 2030 and
around 30% by 2050, but that is only if countries concentrated their efforts on
combating climate change, which admittedly is not likely to happen. Lastly,
Danish Ambassador to Viet Nam Charlotte Laursen, spoke about Denmark’s
experiences with wind energy and how it could benefit the country’s industrial
development strategy. If properly implemented, wind power could attract
substantial foreign direct investment and have a transformative effect on
low-carbon energy development, noted Ambassador Laursen. The experience of
Denmark, she said, is consistent with that of other countries, and it shows
that with just a few million dollars of public funding and via the adoption of
smart finance policies, countries can successfully attract billions of dollars
of private investment for wind energy development.
VOV
News – December 15 - http://english.vov.vn/economy/vietnam-aims-to-become-wind-powerhouse-by-2020-339317.vov
Viet Nam aims to become wind powerhouse by 2020
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