Productive energy - a lever for sustainable development goals
This is the content discussed at the Seminar "produced energy in Vietnam" organized by the National Economics University (NEU) in coordination with the Power and Energy Working Group (PEWG) under the Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) on June 18.
Speaking at the event, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hieu - Deputy Director of the National Economics University said that productive energy - including electricity, heat and fuel for industry - is not only the foundation for economic growth but also a lever to help us achieve sustainable development goals.
"However, this sector is facing many challenges such as energy security, input price fluctuations, pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and transition to green growth" - Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hieu emphasized.
According to Dr. Nguyen Hai Nam, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, the National Assembly passed the Electricity Law (amended) in November 2024 with many important breakthrough viewpoints, having a great impact on the economy, ensuring the country's growth and development goals as well as national energy security.
The Electricity Law (amended) has covered major policies such as electricity planning, electricity market and renewable energy development, ensuring synchronization with relevant laws, adding many regulations to remove institutional and policy bottlenecks.
After the Law was promulgated, the Government has also rushed to develop many legal documents to promptly promulgate them to guide the implementation of the Law. At the same time, Power Plan VIII was also adjusted and issued in April this year to create a solid foundation for Vietnam's sustainable energy transition process.
Recent policy and regulatory developments demonstrate Vietnam's determination to attract and diversify investment flows in the energy sector, promote innovation, creativity, and maximize the release of resources in society to serve the energy transition towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2050 - Dr. Nguyen Hai Nam emphasized.
Attracting investment capital in the energy sector
To realize the " ambitious" goals of renewable energy and realize the commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, Ms. Do Hong Thanh - Deputy Director of the Center for Energy Information and Power Market Development, Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said that the prerequisite is to mobilize large investment resources, especially from the private sector and international investors.
According to Ms. Do Hong Thanh, the investment capital demand for both power sources and transmission grids in the period of 2026 - 2030 will reach 136.3 billion USD. In the period of 2031 - 2035, capital demand will be about 130 billion USD, and from 2036 to 2050, this figure may skyrocket to 569 billion USD.
With such a huge capital demand, Vietnam is forced to promote investment attraction from the private and international sectors, especially in the context that both Vietnam and many countries in the world are pursuing the trend of developing clean and sustainable energy, Ms. Thanh emphasized.
According to Dr. Dinh Tuan Minh, Director of the Center for Market Solutions for Economic and Social Issues, one of the major obstacles is the lack of consistency, stability and transparency in the legal framework and current policies.
In addition, Dr. Dinh Tuan Minh said that complicated administrative procedures, unsynchronized technical infrastructure, along with limited domestic capital market size are reducing Vietnam's attractiveness in the eyes of strategic investors.
"To realize renewable energy development goals, Vietnam needs to develop specific solutions to improve the investment environment, especially creating conditions to attract large-scale long-term capital flows from foreign regions. This becomes even more urgent when many domestic enterprises still have difficulty accessing large and long-term capital to serve renewable power projects" - Dr. Dinh Tuan Minh recommended.
