Mr Bakhodir Burkhanov, UNDP Deputy Country Director, said that electricity production in Vietnam will still depend on coal, which is also a major cause of greenhouse gas emissions against the direction of the world. According to the experts, Vietnam is facing the risk of investment shrunk by coal as environmental threats to the nation and the globe in the coming decades.
The cause of this condition is due to cheap price of coal-fired electricity power; however, that the coal-fired electricity power will hide the hidden costs and burdens on Vietnam in the future has not been taken into account in the choice of policies and budgets. The extraction, transportation and use of coal contains many hidden costs to the economy, environment, household income and health of people. However, the extraction, transportation and use of coal that has been supported are indirectly harming the state, particularly the taxpayers.
Worldwide, the renewable energy is more rapid and positive change technically as well as financially. Therefore, according to Mr Bakhodir Burkhanov, Vietnam needs to reach and take advantage of this change. Vietnam should have a policy and specific guidelines to encourage the application of electric transportation, bio-gas and compost bags installing solar photovoltaic systems on rooftops, as the Green Building of the United Nations, thereby significantly reducing the cost of electricity and environmental protection.
According to Pham Trong Thuc, Director of Department of New and Renewable Energies (GDE), the overall goal of the strategy development of renewable energy in Vietnam is 25 per cent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions Vietnam and the majority of households will have access to reliable, sustainable and modern energy services with an affordable price by 2030.
Actually he said, one of the strategic focuses of renewable energy technologies is to recognize the renewable energy, including hydro, wind, solar, bio-energy block and biogas.
"The strategy aims to encourage and mobilize all social resources, development of renewable energy at the right price in order to increase market share of renewable energy in the total production and consumption of national energy. This will help reduce dependence on fossil resources and contribute to improving energy security, climate change mitigation, environmental protection and economic development and social sustainability," said Mr Thuc.
UNDP study shows the advantages of photovoltaic solar are huge and it has very little solar negative impacts on the environment, health and livelihoods. Generating energy from the sun can help communities in remote areas and islands, as well as large and small businesses to improve the power supply and reduce electricity bills.
UNDP recommends Vietnam need to accommodate “Feed-in-Tariff” (FiT) is 15 cents per kWh for solar photovoltaic plants on land, and 19 cents per kWh for power plants outside the island within next 20 years. UNDP also recommends that Vietnam need financial support for solar photovoltaic systems as well as integrated independent grid in remote areas and islands, and preferential policies in order to reduce the cost of investing in plants solar photovoltaic, solar power system on the roof and solar photovoltaic systems community.
Mr Burkhanov assessed that the renewable energy development strategy is in the right direction. This strategy reflects Vietnam's commitment to the less use of carbon and the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The strategy also supports for the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, on which Vietnam and more than 175 countries have recently signed at the UN headquarters.
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