Nguyen Anh Tuan from the Vietnam Energy Association saidthat the slow progress of power projects is one of the main reasons leading todifficulties in power supply.
Prof. Le Chi Hiep from Ho Chi Minh City University ofTechnology stressed the need to build a specific roadmap for each period, withstricter inspection and monitoring.
Many participants agreed that the orientation of solarself-consumption development in the new plan is sound, but it is necessary tospecify the concept, scale of development, and connectivity, especially inindustrial parks and clusters.
Regarding offshore wind power development, they stressedthe need to consider the issue of national sovereignty as the situation ofbuying and selling projects back-and-forth between units may occur.
Especially, for important projects, it is necessary to havea strict supervision regime from the Government to the Ministry of Industry andTrade to avoid major, year-long delays.
The Government should assign the Ministry of Industry andTrade and relevant ministries to develop a bidding mechanism to invest in renewableenergy power projects, so as to choose contractors with sufficientcapital, and technical staff, they said.
The National Power Development Plan VIII is considered abreakthrough in the energy sector as it shows Vietnam’s determination togradually eliminate coal-fueled and gas-fired power generation and promote renewableenergy to achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2050.
Under the plan for the 2021 - 2030 period with a vision to 2050, onlythe coal-fired power projects listed in the adjusted Plan VII and thosecurrently under construction will be continued, and there will be no newcoal-fired power projects after 2030.
Vietnam targets that by 2050, coal will no longer be used for power generation but biomass and ammoniac instead. Coal-fired powerplants aged over 40 years will be closed if they are unable to switch to otherfuels.
Meanwhile, renewable energy will receive special priority,expected to account for some 70% of all electricity generation by 2050. Rooftopsolar power for self-use will also be facilitated to cover 50% of the roofs ofoffice buildings and civil houses./.