|
Renewable
energy’s difficult
birth
10/11/2010
09:47:00 PM (GMT+7)
While the demand
for energy is rising
dramatically in
Vietnam, development
of renewable energy
is still in its
infancy and faces
big obstacles.
According to the
Ministry of Planning
and Investment,
Vietnam’s demand for
primary energy rose
by 2.56 times from
1989 to 2008.
Electricity demand
rose 10.7 times.
Virtually all was
produced from
traditional energy
sources like coal,
oil, natural gas and
hydropower.
Foreseeing a day
when demand
outstrips existing
resources, the
Government is
turning its
attention, at last,
to renewable energy
sources like wind
and solar power, and
to more efficient
consumption, reports
the HCM City journal
Thanh Nien.
“The state
encourages the
development and use
of new and renewable
energy resources
through assisting
projects to
research,
manufacturing and
building models of
new and renewable
energies; exempting
taxes for the
import, manufacture
and transport of new
energy resources,
equipment and
technologies,” said
Deputy PM Hoang
Trung Hai.
In the nearer term,
the biggest savings
can be harvested
from the
introduction of more
efficient
technologies. Energy
use in Vietnam is
inefficient, even
when measured
against regional
neighbors like
Thailand or
Malaysia. Deputy
Minister of Planning
and Investment
Nguyen Bich Dat says
that technologies to
exploit, transform
and use energy in
Vietnam are being
upgraded but they
are still at low
level. Much
equipment still in
use dates from the
1970’s. Losses in
energy transmission
have been reduced
from 20 percent in
1995 to a still high
9.35 percent in
2008.
Eight renewable
energy resources
According to Tran
Viet Ngai, chairman
of the Energy
Association (VEA)
counts eight
renewable power
resources that can
be exploited in
Vietnam: small-scale
hydropower, wind and
solar energy,
biofuels and
biomass, geothermal
and tidal energy,
and, last, energy
from urban and
industrial waste.
There’s particularly
strong potential for
wind power
development, because
in many locations
there’s a steady
breeze in the six to
ten meters per
second range.
The sun is out
seventy percent of
the time, making
solar energy viable
especially on
islands and in
remote areas.
There are
exploitable
geothermal sources
in Hoa Binh and
Khanh Hoa provinces
especially.
“Biomass (straw,
rice husk,
sugar-cane dregs,
etc.) and biogas
(from digestion of
livestock feces) can
be huge energy
producers for the
seventy percent of
Vietnam’s population
who are farmers.
Since 2003, the
Ministry of
Agriculture and
Rural Development,
in cooperation with
the Dutch foreign
aid program, SNV,
have helped nearly
100,000 families to
build and use
biodigesters to
produce gas for use
on their farms.
Vietnam Institute
for Science and
Technology expert
Bui Huy Phung
estimates Vietnam’s
exploitable small
hydropower potential
to be 4000 MW (the
equivalent of four
large coal-burning
power plants) and
wind power from 8700
to a huge 100,000
MW. Tidal energy
sources could also
generate over 100
MW, Phung says, and
geothermal sources
up to 400 MW.
The only forms of
renewable energy
currently in
commercial use in
Vietnam are the
aforementioned
biodigesters,
hydro-power and, on
a very small scale,
solar and wind
energy. Current
official projections
are that power from
renewable sources
will supply eleven
percent of the
nation’s energy
needs by 2050.
Wind power’s
difficult start-up
Up to 2009, Vietnam
had only one wind
power plant, five
turbines installed
by the Vietnam
Renewable Power JS
Co. (REVN) in Tuy
Phong district, Binh
Thuan. By late 2009,
this project had
contributed 7.5 MW
to the national
power grid. REVN
plans to have 20
wind turbines
operating by 2015,
with a total output
of 120 MW.
Coastal areas of
Binh Thuan and
neighboring Ninh
Thuan provinces are
considered ideal for
wind power
generation. So far,
Binh Thuan has
approved the wind
power project
proposals of nine
investors. The
investors plan ten
projects with a
total registered
capacity of 1,511
MW, using around
13,000 hectares of
land.
However, because
these projects are
located in areas
with black sand (a
source of titanium),
in August, 2008, the
Resources and
Environment Ministry
(MoNRE) put a hold
on wind power
development until it
is determined
whether the titanium
deposits can be
commercially
developed.
Binh Thuan Chairman
Huynh Tuan Thanh
said that the MoNRE
decision is a
setback that has
strongly affected
investors’
determination.
Though most of the
wind power projects
have completed the
survey and research
phases and the REVN
project has shown
their technical
feasibility, Binh
Thuan can’t licence
them yet.
The wind power
projects face other
big difficulties,
too.
The ‘up-front’
investment cost is
high, substantially
more per
kilowatt-hour (kWh)
of capacity than for
hydro or thermal
power. Most of the
equipment the REVN’s
project was imported
from Germany. REVN
invested more than
817 billion dong in
the five turbines.
It also had to
import huge cranes
to erect the turbine
towers and contract
with foreign experts
to direct
installation of the
equipment and teach
operating
techniques.
Using current
technology, the cost
of generating one
kWh of wind power is
at least ten US
cents (about 2000
dong). Until now,
the national
electricity
monopoly, EVN, has
refused to consider
paying more than
five cents/kWh,
claiming that it is
unable to pass on
the cost to
consumers. In this
circumstance, banks
are understandably
not enthusiastic
about financing wind
power projects.
It remains to be
seen whether and how
the central
government will
intervene to create
a market for
windpower and other
start-up alternative
energy technologies. |
