POWER March 2012 - 60

POWER IN VIETNAM
evant aspects, such as policy setting and
regulation, management, and technology.
Second, Vietnam's " education and training
institutions are still limited, " he admitted.
Then the country must overcome the
hurdle of developing nuclear plants from
scratch; improving infrastructure; and establishing
a competent regulatory body
(and one that will oversee myriad projects
with several partners, requiring different
technical regulations), a technical support
organization, and research and development
organizations.
Besides assessing and choosing thirdgeneration
technologies (of 1,000 MW or
larger-though Vietnam has not excluded
small modular reactors from its plans), the
country must iron out how it will finance
the new plants and related infrastructure,
Phac said.
Meanwhile, in the shadow of the Fukushima
accident, Vietnam will have to
garner public support and pay particular
attention to ensuring safety and security,
which will, in turn, require it to join international
nonproliferation organizations.
Vietnam continues to charge ahead
despite these issues, Phac said, because
if it doesn't include nuclear power in its
future energy strategy, it will face critical
energy shortfalls. " If there will be no new
resources added, the Ratio of External Dependency
will be 36% in 2020 and up to
57% in 2030 and continues to increase. In
this context, nuclear power development is
a sound decision, " he said.
The nation is already making progress.
In May 2010, the government established
a steering committee, and it has embarked
on a state-funded training program that
includes upgrading five universities and
establishing a nuclear training center. Site
preparation and the creation of a legal
nonhydro renewable power. In 2005 the
country passed a law requiring environmental
assessments for new projects. At
the end of 2009, the Ministry of Industry
and Trade established design principles for
implementation of the Vietnam Competitive
Generation Market. And in 2011, the
government launched pilot deployment of
the market, allowing 48 out of 73 plants
with a capacity of more than 30 MW to
make direct offers in the market.
Even though the government has neglected
to ensure practical application of these legal
tools, experts say there is new momentum for
broader investment in a sustainable energy
supply chain, and the country has vast natural
resource potential.
However, many experts agree that Vietnam
has a long way to go before non-hydro
renewables can make up a sizeable portion
of its power profile, despite its plans to
7. Testing the wind. The Vietnamese Renewable Energy Joint Stock Co. (REVN) connected
20 1.5-MW wind turbines in Binh Thuan province to the national grid in March 2011. Local developer
Cong Ly Co. Ltd. is planning a second phase to add 80 more turbines and bring the farm's
total capacity to 120 MW. The project, which supplies power to Vietnam's Mekong Delta in the
south, is the country's first grid-connected wind farm. Courtesy: REVN
with EVN because the utility only bought
renewable power at prices comparable to
power from fossil fuels-which it subsidized.
Meanwhile, as rural electrification
remains a government priority, no mechanisms
exist to support off-grid distributed
generation, he said.
An overview of renewable projects and
plans follows.
Solar Energy. Though Vietnam's climate
varies considerably from the north
to the south, the country averages 2,000
hours of sunshine a year with an average
solar radiation of 4.5 to 6.5 kWh/square
meters daily (about two-thirds the amount
available in the southwestern U.S.). By
2011, 1.5 MW of solar power had been
installed, mostly photovoltaic panels in
rural communities. Vietnam had also actively
backed a massive photovoltaic panel
manufacturing facility in Ho Chi Minh
City that would have begun operating in
2012, but its owner, U.S. firm FirstSolar,
halted construction of the factory, citing a
demand slump in late 2011.
Wind Energy. Vietnam is also strategically
located in a monsoon zone, where the
cold northeast monsoon wind from Siberia
and China wafts across the nation during
winter and the warm, southwest and southeast
monsoon blows in from the equator
during the summer. The total potential of
wind energy is estimated at 713 GW, about
510 GW on land and the remainder on outlaying
islands. About 42 wind power projects
ranging from 6 MW to 150 MW are at
different development stages, but only one
project has been connected to the national
grid (Figure 7). The off-grid 800-kW Bach
Long Vy power plant has been in operation
since the end of 2004. Under Master Plan
58
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POWER | March 2012
framework and development are also of
" high priority, " Phac said.
A Small Role for Nonhydro
Renewables
Vietnam's hunger for power has limited its
focus to thermal, hydropower, and nuclear
power in the short to medium term, but to
satiate needs for a more diversified energy
mix and investments, the country has
initiated preliminary steps for adopting
increase their share from 3% in 2010 to
5% by 2020. According to Vietnam's Institute
of Energy Director of the Center for
Renewable Energy Nguyen Duc Cuong,
the country must embark on a gradual removal
of institutional and financial barriers.
Cuong noted at a June 2011 workshop
on obstacles preventing renewable energy
development in Vietnam that investors in
wind and biomass power found it difficult
to conclude power purchase agreements
If Vietnam doesn't include nuclear power in
its future energy strategy, it will face critical
energy shortfalls.

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POWER March 2012

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