On May 24, 2019, the Conference on Development of the energy efficiency projects under the Project for "Promoting investment market for energy efficiency in industrial sector in Vietnam" was jointly organized in Hanoi by the Department of Energy efficiency and Sustainable development, Ministry of Industry and Trade (EESD) and Korea Energy Agency (KEA). 

The conference attracted the participation of provincial Departments of Industry and Trade and Energy Conservation Centers/Industrial Promotion and Development Consultancy Centers, industrial enterprises, ESCOs, commercial banks and news agencies.

The project " Promoting Investment Market for Energy Efficiency in Industrial Sector in Vietnam" is funded by the Korean Government through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Korea Energy Agency and the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade jointly implements the Project. The Project focuses on providing direct technical assistance to energy service providers (including energy service companies and energy conservation centers, or ESCO for short) and state management officials related to energy efficiency and conservation (EE&C). Thanks to the practical training in selected pilot projects, they have chance to carry out energy efficiency investment projects in line with the ESCO model step by step.

At the opening of the conference, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Lam Giang, Director general of EESD said that: "The Vietnam National Energy Efficiency Program, for the period of 2019-2030 (VNEEP3) was approved by the Prime Minister in the Decision No. 280/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister dated March 13, 2019. The Project for "Promoting Investment Market for Energy Efficiency in Industrial Sector in Vietnam” plays an important role in promoting the economical and efficient use of energy in industrial sector and contributing to the achievement of VNEEP's objectives. The conference aims at disseminating the Project's activities to the community, thereby promotes the energy efficiency investment market". 

The Project consists of 3 components including: Component 1: Capacity Building and Awareness Raising on Energy Efficiency, Component 2: Identification of the Pilot Business on Energy Efficiency Investment (Pilot Phase 1) and Component 3: Implementation support for EE investment and financing (Pilot Phase 2). 

Beneficiaries of the Project are ESCOs, State management officials related to energy efficiency, major energy users, enterprises supposed to carry out energy audit every 3 years  in accordance with the Law on economical and efficient use of energy.

Mr. Kim Jinoh, Country Director of KOICA said that: "KOICA, as a Korean government agency in charge of ODA grant aid, facilitates partnerships with MOIT and related actors in energy and to help Viet Nam translate the VNEEP into reality. Our Project for “Promoting Investment Market for Energy Efficiency in Industrial Sector in Viet Nam" is built around an integrated technical and financial solution to achieve energy efficiency. It contributes to Vietnam’s effort to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 13 and commitments under the Paris Agreement". 

After surveying 2,409 major energy users (specified in the Decision No. 1305/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister), the Project chose 10 industrial enterprises entitled to energy audit implementation from paper and pulp, food, steel, cement, chemical, refinery and textile. After energy audit implementation, 108 energy-saving solutions were proposed. By carrying out these solutions, businesses can save about 78,000 USD in energy cost equivalent to 4.8 percent of their total energy consumption and reduce 606,000 tons of CO2 each year.

8 presentations which were made at the conference focused on energy efficiency potential of industrial enterprises and energy audit results of 10 selected enterprises, experience in carrying out energy efficiency projects of an ESCO. In addition, applicable financial sources for energy efficiency projects from World Bank's projects (Vietnam Energy Efficiency for Industrial Enterprises-VEEIE, Vietnam Scaling Up Energy Efficiency-VSUEE), Korea Eximbank and commercial banks such as VCB, BIDV, Techcombank were introduced to enterprises. 

Especially, presentations on particular energy efficiency solutions in Binh Son Refinery and Petrochemical JSC and Pha Lai Thermal Power JSC showed enterprises how to carry out energy efficiency projects and what benefiets related to production cost reduction and competitiveness improvement they can gain.