Description

The Global Electricity Review 2022 was conducted by Ember – an independent and not-for-profit think tank. Vietnam, with 10.7%, is among 50 individual countries where wind and solar energy contributes to more than 10% of total electricity in 2021, Accordingly, Vietnam is one of 7 new nations added to this list including China, Japan, Mongolia, Argentina, Hungary, and El Salvador. Vietnam is also one of the three countries including the Netherlands and Australia, that have converted more than 8% of their total electricity demand from fossil fuels to wind and solar power within a short period from 2019 to 2021. The solar growth made Vietnam one of the 10th largest solar generators in the world in 2021 and it was “the only country in Asia to meet and exceed its entire demand rise with new wind and solar”.

Source of figure: https://ember-climate.org  

Source of figure: https://ember-climate.org  

 However, the report shows some key lessons from the case study of Vietnam, e.g.: 

 – Requirement of “a long-term renewables policy to create a stable investment environment; stop-start policy needs to be avoided” to achieve the lowest prices of electricity. In the case of Vietnam, the popular feed-in-tariffs created favorable conditions, however, the policy gap (i.e., the new solar pricing policy) also put investors into awkward situations in 2021. 

 – Requirement of more upfront planning for renewable energy infrastructures such as energy storage and transmission capacity. 

Sources & further information: “Điện mặt trời và điện gió chiếm hơn 10% sản lượng điện toàn cầu” at https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn, “Vietnam sees astonishing growth in clean energy” at https://en.vietnamplus.vn, “Global Electricity Review 2022” at https://ember-climate.org, “2021 remains gap year for solar developers” at https://vir.com.vn, and “Better infrastructure is way to absorb surge in renewable energy production: experts” at https://cvdvn.net, accessed on 4 April 2022.