11 RENEWABLE ENERGY POLICY IN VIETNAM
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future. Vietnam’s total power capacity has increased by approximately 12%
per annum over the past decade, reaching 46.673 GW of installed capacity
by end of August 2018. Hydropower, coal, and natural gas are the most
important primary energy sources for electricity production. Hydropower
accounted for the largest share of capacity (40%), followed by coal (38%),
and gas and oil (18.7%).
Vietnam’s power mix was mainly dominated by large hydropower,
followed by gas power and coal power. It appears that the intention of
the Vietnamese government is to retain these primary sources for electricity production over the coming decades. However, nearly all large and
medium hydro-resource potential has already been fully exploited, while
domestic coal is currently insufficient to supply existing power plants.
New coal power plants require higher-quality coal to generate highpressure steam, and while low-quality coal is cheaper, it is not usable for
newly built plants. This makes the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for
coal-fired plants less competitive than new renewable energy power plants
such as solar PV. As a result, in the PDPr has set the goals of 8000 MW
of installed wind capacity, and 12,000 MW of solar capacity, by 2030.
Renewable Energy Potential
Vietnam has excellent potential for the development of renewable energy
generation in the context of Southeast Asia, and it is on the right path
for translating this potential into a developed renewable energy sector.
Our review of the current progress of the RES suggests that most forms
of renewable energy in Vietnam are at an early state of unlocking their
market potentials. We focus on wind, solar, and biomass.
Solar Energy Potential. The theoretical potential of solar power in
Vietnam is high, at about 43.9 billion Tons of Oil Equivalent (TOEs)
per year (Dang and Le 2005; To 2012; Trinh 2012). Most of the
potential is concentrated in the Central and Southern regions, with an
average of over 300 sunny days per year, and a solar radiation intensity
of 5 kWh/m 2 . In the North, those numbers are 250–280 days per year
and 2.4–5.6 kWh/m 2 , respectively (VUSTA 2007). Before 2016, solar
energy was mainly utilized on a very small scale, and mostly deployed at
household and commercial scale, including at hotels, restaurants, hospitals, military bases, and services centers (To 2012). The total installed
capacity of PV solar power in June 2019 was 4440 MW, most of which
was commissioned before the end of that month with a Feed-in Tariff
249
future. Vietnam’s total power capacity has increased by approximately 12%
per annum over the past decade, reaching 46.673 GW of installed capacity
by end of August 2018. Hydropower, coal, and natural gas are the most
important primary energy sources for electricity production. Hydropower
accounted for the largest share of capacity (40%), followed by coal (38%),
and gas and oil (18.7%).
Vietnam’s power mix was mainly dominated by large hydropower,
followed by gas power and coal power. It appears that the intention of
the Vietnamese government is to retain these primary sources for electricity production over the coming decades. However, nearly all large and
medium hydro-resource potential has already been fully exploited, while
domestic coal is currently insufficient to supply existing power plants.
New coal power plants require higher-quality coal to generate highpressure steam, and while low-quality coal is cheaper, it is not usable for
newly built plants. This makes the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for
coal-fired plants less competitive than new renewable energy power plants
such as solar PV. As a result, in the PDPr has set the goals of 8000 MW
of installed wind capacity, and 12,000 MW of solar capacity, by 2030.
Renewable Energy Potential
Vietnam has excellent potential for the development of renewable energy
generation in the context of Southeast Asia, and it is on the right path
for translating this potential into a developed renewable energy sector.
Our review of the current progress of the RES suggests that most forms
of renewable energy in Vietnam are at an early state of unlocking their
market potentials. We focus on wind, solar, and biomass.
Solar Energy Potential. The theoretical potential of solar power in
Vietnam is high, at about 43.9 billion Tons of Oil Equivalent (TOEs)
per year (Dang and Le 2005; To 2012; Trinh 2012). Most of the
potential is concentrated in the Central and Southern regions, with an
average of over 300 sunny days per year, and a solar radiation intensity
of 5 kWh/m 2 . In the North, those numbers are 250–280 days per year
and 2.4–5.6 kWh/m 2 , respectively (VUSTA 2007). Before 2016, solar
energy was mainly utilized on a very small scale, and mostly deployed at
household and commercial scale, including at hotels, restaurants, hospitals, military bases, and services centers (To 2012). The total installed
capacity of PV solar power in June 2019 was 4440 MW, most of which
was commissioned before the end of that month with a Feed-in Tariff