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.
Í skýrslunni kom einnig fram að heildaráætlun um uppbyggingu raforku í Víetnam hefur farið í gegnum fjórar endurskoðunarlotur frá því að frumdrög víetnamska iðnaðar- og viðskiptaráðuneytisins voru lögð fram í mars á síðasta ári og rykið hefur ekki sest enn. Í ljósi þessa hefur iðnaðar- og viðskiptaráðuneyti Víetnams óskað eftir því við æðri yfirvöld að tilteknum framkvæmdatíma áætlunarinnar verði frestað til annars ársfjórðungs þessa árs.
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.
Forstjóri raforku- og endurnýjanlegrar orkustofnunar Víetnam, Huang Thien Dung, sagði einnig nýlega að Víetnam muni flýta fyrir umskiptum frá jarðefnaeldsneyti yfir í hreina og endurnýjanlega orku. Tran Van Dong, aðstoðarvísinda- og tækniráðherra Víetnams, benti á að Víetnam hafi mikla möguleika á þróun endurnýjanlegrar orku, með um 217 GW af vindorku á landi, um 160 GW af vindorku á hafi úti og um 434 GW af raforkuframleiðslu á landi. .
Samkvæmt nýjustu drögum að rammaáætlun um virkjunarframkvæmdir, árið 2045, munu vindorkuver á hafi úti í Víetnam verða aðallega staðsettar í norður og suðurhluta landsins, með uppsett afl sem eykst um 36 gígavött, sem er 10,8 prósent af heildarorkuframleiðslu.
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 sagði einnig að Víetnam hafi 3.260 kílómetra langa strandlengju, sem og lágan sjávarstöðu og mikinn vindhraða (7 til 10 metrar á sekúndu í 100 metra hæð), og náttúrulegar aðstæður fyrir þróun vindorku á hafi úti eru einstakt.
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.