According to Vietnamese media reports, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said recently that the previously set photovoltaic power generation target for 2031-2045 was "too high" and should be appropriately lowered to make room for wind power generation.
In late February this year, Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to set the country's installed power capacity at 146,000 megawatts from now until 2030, which is 9,000 megawatts less than the plan announced in November last year. The ministry also said that by 2045, Vietnam plans to have 352,000 megawatts of installed capacity, of which photovoltaics will account for 25 percent.
According to data from the Electric Power Company of Vietnam (EVN), as of 2021, Vietnam has ranked among the "Top 10 Global Photovoltaic Power Generation", reaching 16,504 MW, accounting for 2.3 percent of the world's total.
Laporan tersebut juga menyebutkan bahwa rencana keseluruhan pengembangan ketenagalistrikan di Vietnam telah melalui empat putaran revisi sejak draf pertama diajukan oleh Kementerian Perindustrian dan Perdagangan Vietnam pada Maret tahun lalu, dan belum juga tuntas. Untuk itu, Kementerian Perindustrian dan Perdagangan Vietnam telah meminta otoritas yang lebih tinggi untuk menunda waktu spesifik pelaksanaan rencana tersebut hingga kuartal kedua tahun ini.
The same plan says that by 2045, renewable energy will account for 70 percent to 75 percent of Vietnam's national electricity capacity. At the 2021 UN climate change conference, Vietnam pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Direktur Administrasi Listrik dan Energi Terbarukan Vietnam, Huang Thien Dung, juga mengatakan baru-baru ini bahwa Vietnam akan mempercepat transisi dari bahan bakar fosil ke energi bersih dan terbarukan. Tran Van Dong, Wakil Menteri Sains dan Teknologi Vietnam, menunjukkan bahwa Vietnam memiliki potensi besar untuk pengembangan energi terbarukan, dengan sekitar 217 GW tenaga angin darat, sekitar 160 GW tenaga angin lepas pantai, dan sekitar 434 GW pembangkit listrik fotovoltaik. .
Menurut rancangan terbaru dari rencana induk pengembangan tenaga, pada tahun 2045, ladang angin lepas pantai di Vietnam akan berlokasi terutama di utara dan selatan negara itu, dengan peningkatan kapasitas terpasang sebesar 36 gigawatt, yang merupakan 10,8 persen dari total pembangkit listrik.
Matthews Holland, senior manager at the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said Vietnam's offshore wind power efficiency could exceed 50 percent, rivaling that of hydropower. According to GWEC estimates, Vietnam's initial investment for the first 4-5 GW offshore wind farms is up to US12 billion, but subsequent operating costs can be greatly reduced. The cost of generating electricity per 1,000 kWh of offshore wind in Vietnam is expected to be around US83, which will further drop to US58 by 2025.
Holland juga mengatakan bahwa Vietnam memiliki panjang garis pantai 3.260 kilometer, serta permukaan laut yang rendah dan kecepatan angin yang tinggi (7 hingga 10 meter per detik pada ketinggian 100 meter), dan kondisi alam untuk pengembangan pembangkit listrik tenaga angin lepas pantai adalah unik.
However, the United Nations Development Programme reminded the Vietnamese side that the latter should also pay attention to how to use new energy more effectively. Currently, Vietnam's unit energy consumption (the amount of energy required to produce 1 unit of GDP) is 1.5 to 1.7 times that of other countries in the region. That is, if Vietnam wants to be carbon neutral, it needs to cut manufacturing emissions in half. Moreover, with the increase of power generation, how to transmit and distribute safely, efficiently and energy-savingly is also a priority for Vietnam to be solved urgently.