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.
Rapporten slo også fast at den overordnede planen for utbygging av elektrisitet i Vietnam har gått gjennom fire runder med revisjoner siden det første utkastet ble levert av det vietnamesiske industri- og handelsdepartementet i mars i fjor, og støvet har ikke lagt seg ennå. På bakgrunn av dette har Vietnams industri- og handelsdepartementet bedt de høyere myndigheter om å utsette den spesifikke implementeringstiden for planen til andre kvartal i år.
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.
Direktøren for Vietnam Electricity and Renewable Energy Administration, Huang Thien Dung, sa også nylig at Vietnam vil fremskynde overgangen fra fossilt brensel til ren og fornybar energi. Tran Van Dong, viseminister for vitenskap og teknologi i Vietnam, påpekte at Vietnam har et stort potensial for utvikling av fornybar energi, med rundt 217 GW vindkraft på land, rundt 160 GW vindkraft til havs og rundt 434 GW solcellekraftproduksjon .
I følge det siste utkastet til hovedplanen for kraftutbygging vil havvindparker i Vietnam innen 2045 hovedsakelig være lokalisert nord og sør i landet, med installert kapasitet som øker med 36 gigawatt, og utgjør 10,8 prosent av den totale kraftproduksjonen.
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 sa også at Vietnam har en lang kystlinje på 3 260 kilometer, samt lav havnivå og høy vindhastighet (7 til 10 meter per sekund i en høyde på 100 meter), og de naturlige forholdene for utvikling av vindkraft til havs er 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.