Vietnam notes renewable energy sites

Vietnam has identified locations suitable for green and renewable energy projects that foreign firms can invest in.

A report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) said Vietnam’s energy use relative to GDP growth is double that of developed countries, indicating vast efficiency improvements in energy use are needed.

"Oil consumption in Viet Nam increased from 4.2 million tonnes in 1990 to 19.5 million tonnes in 2004, for an annual growth of 11.7 per cent. It is expected that Viet Nam will become an energy importer by 2015," the report said.

It noted that Vietnam gets 2,000–2,500 hours of sunshine every year, equivalent to 44 million tonnes of oil.

In addition, wind power can generate between 800 -1,400 kwh/sq.m/year onshore, 500-1,000 kwh/sq.m/year along the 3,000km coast and under 500 kwh/sq.m/year in the Central Highlands and southern provinces.

About 320MW of energy can be generated from waste each year, 100-200MW from hydropower, 2,500MW from biomass and 340MW from geothermal engineering.

The MoIT report said that the Hong River Delta, which has limited solar and wind energy potential, can be exploited for its geothermal potential.
At a depth of 4km, temperatures would reach 160 degrees Centigrade, allowing the production of 1.16 per cent of the total electricity that Viet Nam generated in 2006.

If geothermal energy was used for air-conditioning in Hanoi, it would have saved US$39.5 million and reduced 252,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the report said.