Towards an era of all-renewable energy
The world's energy transition has been accelerating in recent years, moving towards an era of using all renewable energy sources. That is, vehicles, instead of running on gasoline or oil, will run on electricity; or forms of energy storage from renewable energy sources are gradually becoming a reality in the coming decades.
According to Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Scientific Council of Vietnam Energy Magazine, the global energy transition will help minimize the impact of climate change, create a more sustainable and equitable world for everyone and will have more opportunities for future generations with cleaner air, cleaner water, human health and improved environmental conditions.
In Vietnam, the energy transition is also taking place strongly. The Power Plan VIII has proposed 3 scenarios for power source development towards energy transition: Baseline scenario, high scenario and risk scenario.
In particular, the high load scenario and considering some power sources that are often behind schedule are considered to be more likely to happen. The high load scenario is considered in the future context when many industrial consumers will shift towards "electrification", reducing the consumption of fossil fuels (electric vehicles, "green" steel industry...), along with increasingly more economical and efficient energy use.
Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan said that with a potential that is assessed as quite good for renewable energy development (offshore wind power over 450GW, onshore wind power over 210GW, solar power 200-300GW), the future prospects for renewable energy development are very large.
Renewable energy has great potential, but to exploit it, increased support will need to be provided for a while longer.
According to the preliminary scenario for renewable energy development of Power Plan VIII, Vietnam can exploit up to 50,000MW of capacity with an output of more than 160 billion kWh from renewable energy by 2030 and up to 260,000MW by 2050 (if there are reasonable support policies).
“This is a huge contribution to the country's demand for electricity output and ensuring energy security and sustainable energy transition,” said Dr. Tuan.
Issue specific mechanisms and policies for emergency development
To do this, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Vice President of the Vietnam Energy Association - assessed that the Ministry of Industry and Trade needs to soon research and issue a breakthrough mechanism on power system auxiliary services with flexible storage sources to mobilize investment resources for these types, ensuring a high and effective mobilization of renewable energy sources in the source structure.
Transitional renewable energy projects need to be resolved promptly and thoroughly, “not legalizing the wrong”, but need to be handled reasonably and appropriately to avoid wasting social resources, and at the same time, opening the way for new power projects.
The electricity price mechanism, which needs to be adjusted flexibly, transparently and quickly according to input factors, is the core factor determining the development of a truly competitive electricity market, promoting the economical and efficient use of electricity, and at the same time being a driving force for investors in new power sources.
With the rapid development of renewable energy in Vietnam, especially wind and solar power, Dr. Ha Minh Duong - Senior Researcher at the French Center for Scientific Research - said that it is necessary to apply battery storage systems to solve the intermittent situation of these sources and ensure the reliability of the grid.
According to him, Vietnam's current goal of developing an electricity storage system with a total capacity of 300MW by 2030 seems modest, but this figure does not include systems that come with rooftop solar power.
“To promote a more resilient, efficient and sustainable energy future, Vietnam should aim higher. On the other hand, it is necessary to soon establish technical standards, market mechanisms for ancillary services, promote pilot projects and invest in developing domestic human resources for electricity storage systems. This effort will help Vietnam move to a greener energy system,” said Dr. Duong.
