WEB ARCHIVE Clean Energy and Sustainable Development lab news

In that previous post, I was wondering if wind power was about to take off in Vietnam. One and a half years later, the wind farms map shows four projects in operation and five in construction:

Tuy Phong

The Tuy Phong onshore wind park in the Binh Thuan province was the first. It has twenty 1.5 MW turbines (Fuhrlander FL MD/77) from Germany). The Vietnamese Renewable Energy Joint Stock Company (REVN) completed the project in 2012. Plans for sixty additional machines seem to be on hold, maybe waiting for better economics.

Phu Quy

(Source: PV Power)

A 6 MW onshore wind-diesel hybrid system, on the Phu Quy island, Binh Thuan province. The 3 * 2MW Vestas V80 turbines were inaugurated in 2014. The Investor PV Power RE (PetroVinam). I would be curious to see the economics of the project: the electricity retail price on the island is higher than on the continent and higher than the official feed-in tariff of 7.8 cent per kWh.

Bac Lieu

(source)

The Bac Lieu project in the south west has a 99.2 MW capacity, with sixty two 1.6MW General Electric turbines. They are installed "near-shore". This means in the tidal flats, the area that is sometimes uncovered by the sea. There are better wind and less neighboors, but the civil engineering for windmill foundations in 2 to 3 meters of sand and mud is harder. Foundations cost 1 million USD apiece. Phase 1 was 10 turbines. As a first-of-a-kind project in Vietnam, it took 2 years to install, cost 2.9 million USD/MW, efficiency 25%. Phase 2 was 52 turbines. Took another 2 years, cost 2.4 million USD/MW; efficiency 30%. This project started operation in 2016. As a near-shore project, it benefits from a higher feed in tariff of 9.8 cent / kWh. It illustrates the importance of learning by doing when starting a new industry.

Phu Lac

(Source VoV)

The Windpark Phu Lac project, also in Binh Thuan province, has 12 Vestas turbines with a combined capacity of 24 megawatts (MW), for a cost of VND1 trillion (US$46 million), of which 85 per cent comes from the German Bank for Reconstruction and Development (KFW). Groundbreaking started in July 2015. It was connected in September 2016.

Economics

The official FiT at 7.8 cent / kWh was computed on the "avoided cost plus externality" basis. EVN agreed that the marginal cost of producing electricity was 6.8 cent/kWh (this is using imported coal), so substituting for wind at that price is theoretically budget-neutral for EVN. A higher level of Feed-in Tariff, about 11.2 cent/kWh, is proposed by GiZ and producers, but many questions remain. The government agreed to use the VN Environmental Protection Fund for the 1 cent/kWh difference in the current FIt, but that fund was supposed to be fed by a percentage of CDM, which does not exist anymore. The Prime Minister has to approves a higher FiT, and ultimately decide who is going to pay.

In my opinion, high FITs are good for kickstarting the sector but not sustainable. Wind power associations claim that their generation costs are competitive, so the only rationale for preferential treatment is to support the initial demonstration projects. Today the costs are higher in Vietnam because the economies of scale have not been realized: infrastructure to manufacture, transport, build, operate and service wind farms is still weak in Vietnam. The FiT should be a program, not a policy, with limits to protect the state budget if it succeed too much. There are many instruments to support the industry.

Conclusion

To sum up, wind power in Vietnam is taking off. Today there are 3 * 2MW + 20 * 1,5 MW + 62 * 1.6 MW that is 6 + 30 + 99 = 135 MW capacity. This is about as much as Thailand, but the wind potential is much better in Vietnam, even if the Feed In Tariff is much lower. Compared to my previous report 18 months ago, opening Bac Lieu phase 2 increased the national capacity by 240%. I am optimistic that in 18 months, the installed capacity will have at least doubled again, because here is over 500MW of projects likely to occur before 2020:

• In Bac Lieu, the Cong Ly company operating the farm plans to add up 71 turbines of 2MW to the farm, that is a 142MW extension.
• In Khai Long-Ca Mau, the same company started to build another 100MW of near shore capacity at the southern tip of the country, with plans for 300MW in total.
• In Tra Vinh, a Korean led project started in February this year to build twenty four 2 MW turbines, with plans to double the capacity to 48MW in phase 2.
• In Mui Dinh, the groundbreaking ceremony to install sixteen turbines for 37MW was held in September last month.

References: This post is inspired by two presentations I attended at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) workshop on best practices for wind development in the APEC region. With special thanks to Mrs. Nguyen Quoc Khanh and Vu Quang Dang. The high-level expert workshop was held in Hanoi, October 2016. Its report might be made available at APEC Energy Working Group publications page.

Post written by Nguyen Trinh Hoang Anh, 2016-03-30. Edited and published by MHD.

On 18th March 2016, the Government of Vietnam approved the adjustments of 7th Vietnam Power Development Planning in the period 2011 - 2020 with an outlook up to 2030 [1]. This official decision aims to ensure the national energy security and meet the socio-economic development objectives of the country with an average GDP growth of about 7.0% during the period. This economic growth rate is projected 1.5% lower than in the 7th Power Development Plan of Vietnam (PDP7) issued in 2011 [2].

The lower projections of economic growth in Vietnam, reduce the demand for total electricity generation by about 20% and 18% by 2020 and 2030, respectively. As consequence, the total power installed capacity of Vietnam in the adjustment would reach only 265 GW by 2020 and 572 GW by 2030 as compared to 330 GW and 695 GW in the original PDP7. Table 1 presents more changes in the electricity mix of Vietnam in the updated version of the PDP7.

Compared to the previous version of the plan, this is a huge step forward by the Vietnamese Government towards climate change mitigation policies. This is not an European-style energy transition: fossil fuel-based technologies still heavily dominate the internal energy industry. However, it does meet the ambitious CO₂ reduction objectives of Vietnam at the COP 21. Cuts of fossil fuel consumption are deep compared to the baseline. Coal consumption reduction of nearly 30%, changing from 76GW to 55GW, by 2030.

The PDP7-A still develops nuclear power plants to ensure stable power supply in the future but the plants will not put into operation before 2028. By 2030, the nuclear power capacity could reach 4.6 GW with its electricity generation of 32.5 TWh per year, accounting for 5.7% of total generation mix.

Table 2 presents differences between power capacities from each type of renewable energy in PDP7 and PDP7-A. Hydropower sources, including pump-storage hydropower plants, remain the largest share in the total renewable power capacity and slightly increase to 25.4 GW in PDP7-A.

Thank to the recent solar energy maps of Vietnam, there is a big move in development of power sources from solar energy, including the concentrating stations on the ground and scattering sets on the building roofs, in the PDP7-A, raising the total capacity of the solar power projects from the current negligible level to about 850 MW, with a power generation rate about 0.5% of total generation mix by 2020, 4 GW with – 1.6% by 2025 and 12 GW with – 3.3% by 2030. Note that in the PDP7, solar power was not given any quantitative projection.

In contrast, wind power, unfortunately, has not received any more attention in PDP7-A although the government has been issued feed-in-tariffs for wind electricity generation. The wind power capacity in PDP7-A would even be lower than its previous projection in PDP7.

Although the PDP7-A presents large decreases in fossil fuel consumption from now to 2030 for electricity generation, the government has not set any emission targets for the electricity sector. The most notable points in the PDP7-A are: (1) deep cut of coal consumption in the power sector due to lower projection of electricity demand, and (2) excluding hydropower, solar power is expected to be the most important renewable resource for electricity generation in Vietnam with its total capacity by 2030 is about 12 GW.

In summary, we believe that this adjustment represents a significant step towards a sustainable energy sector in Vietnam, and refer to [4] for more discussion of a low carbon future for the power sector.

References:

1. The Government of Vietnam, The adjustments of 7th Vietnam Power Development Planning, 2016
2. The Government of Vietnam, The 7th Power Development Plan of Vietnam, 2011.
3. Vietnam Energy, Adjusting Vietnam National Power Development Planning, 2016.
4. Hoang Anh Nguyen Trinh, Minh Ha-Duong. Low Carbon Scenario for the Power Sector of Vietnam: Externality and Comparison Approach. GMSARN International Journal, 2016, 9 (4), pp.137-146. hal-01277074

The call for papers in pdf format is enclosed Callforpapers_Workshop_CleanED_December.pdf.

The CleanED lab would like to thank the French Embassy which has financed this project. For more information, please click here on workshop's website.

Pour ce mois ci, le sujet des énergies propres et le développement durable s'est beaucoup abordé partout dans le monde via la COP21 - 21ème Conférence des Nations unies sur les changements climatiques. Cette conférence climatique se tiendra à Paris en Décembre dans la perspective de "limiter la hausse de température moyenne de 2°C". Vietnam n'a pas encore de publier son iNDC - Contributions nationales. L'avant projet est en phase finale de révision au niveau ministériel.

Le secteur de l'énergie était responsable de la moitié des émissions de GES Vietnam en 2010. Mais avec toutes les nouvelles centrales à charbon installées, cette émission ne va pas être améliorée. Le monde est donc curieux de voir les plans de management du Vietnam afin de gérer cette tendance, dans le sens de mettre en place une politique qui consiste à utiliser, par exemple, uniquement des technologies modernes à haute efficacité ( > 40 % ) ,de mélanger certains biomasses au charbon, de développer quelques centrales au gaz naturel. Nous espérons que la technologie de captage et le stockage du carbone permettra d'obtenir bientôt certaine traction. Beaucoup d'investisseurs attendent une augmentation des tarifs de rachat pour les énergies renouvelables. Cela nécessiterait une augmentation du prix de l'électricité, qui est actuellement l'un des plus bas dans la région. Le prix de l'énergie plus élevé donnera également une bonne motivation pour favoriser l'efficacité énergétique.

A propos de notre projet avec IT Power, Royaume-Uni consistant à organiser un cours de formation sur l'efficacité énergétique: le ministère de l'Industrie et du Commerce (MoIT) a choisi un autre consortium. Mais pour la prochaine opportunité, nous avons préparé une telle formation dont un nouvel appel à proposition de MoIT viendrai bientôt.
Afin de formaliser le lien entre CleanED et CIRED, nous avons soumis un Programme International de Coopération Scientifique (PICS) pour le CNRS. Ceci est seulement un début et nous travaillons avec de nombreux laboratoires en France. Parlons plus tard de la formalisation de la coopération.

Le projet "FabLab Vietnam" a été acceptée. En tant que membre du consortium, nous allons fournir des travaux pratiques en technologie pour les jeunes créateurs. En attendant un espace convivial pour le future fablab USTH (nommé Français Tech Hub Direction Hanoi ou sous un autre nom), notre salle de laboratoire 610 est ouvert. Cet été, nous accueillons déjà Tung et son prototype éolien. Nous avons encore des places de travail et des outils pour les anciens/présents/futurs étudiants intéressés par à l'énergie propre et le développement durable.

Nous sommes en train de réfléchir aux nouvelles directions de recherche telles que:
- Les réseaux de production des éoliens en Asie et ailleurs, en collaboration avec un professeur de l'Université nationale du Vietnam.
- Les marchés vietnamiens pour les fourneaux améliorés , technologies de gazéification des balles de riz.
- La mobilité électrique au Vietnam , des sociétés à bas carbone ... ou bien d'autres sujets .

Où nous rencontrer le mois prochain?
Le séminaire scientifique conjointe entre CleanED et IES sur l'énergie et l'environnement: Sylvain Ouillon parlera sur l'eau et le changement climatique le lundi 22 , Juin . Ce sera la présentation finale de la première saison.
M. Hoang Anh va participer au Forum sur les changements climatiques à l'AIT de Bangkok sur Juillet 1er-3ème.
M. Hoang Anh et Minh participeront à laconférence "Our common furture under climate change" à Paris, entre le 7 et le 11 mois prochain. A cette occasion , nous organisons un cocktail de bienvenue à Paris comme un événement officiel au sommet de la tour de Jussieu? RSVP via minh.haduong@gmail.com.

La puissance des éoliennes installées au Vietnam à ce jour est 52MW. C'est peu: trois sites et quelques douzaines de turbines au total. Pourtant, des signes montrent que l'éolien au Vietnam pourrait bientôt décoller.

• Le secteur privé a déposé plus de 1000MW de projets auprès du gouvernement.
• Deux conférences viennent de se tenir sur le sujet la semaine dernière. L'une à Ha Noi avec la coopération Allemande. Grande puissance du secteur, l'Allemagne a installé 5.279MW d'énergie éolienne l'année dernière. L'autre à Ho Chi Minh Ville avec la coopération américaine parrainée par General Electric, un grand constructeur de turbines.

Au Vietnam le tarif payé aux producteurs d'électricité éolienne est l'un des plus bas du monde, 7.8 cents par kWh. Réviser ce tarif à la hausse, poser un cadre administratif approprié et donner des garanties sur l'achat effectif de l'électricité produite, ces trois actions sont aujourd'hui nécessaires pour développer le secteur : attirer les investisseurs et les industriels, faire venir plus de grues de très grande hauteur dans le pays, installer des centres techniques pour la maintenance et ultérieurement la production, mettre en place des programmes de formation (à l'USTH bien sûr).

Le 7e Power Development Plan vise 1000MW d'éolien installé en 2020, il reste 5 ans pour faire "fois vingt". Développer des parcs rapidement, en quelques trimestres, est justement l'un des points forts de l'énergie éolienne face au charbon.

Ce mois ci nous avons mis en place la communication institutionnelle du labo, avec un CleanED_flyer.pdf, le site web CleanED, la collection de publications CleanED sur HAL et le blog.

L'USTH recherche son Directeur de la Recherche et de l'Innovation pour remplacer Didier Lecomte dont la mission se termine en août. N'hésitez pas à difuser largement la fiche du poste ouvert à la mobilité internationale.

Avis aux étudiants intéressés par un début de carrière à l'USTH après une thèse en France : il reste encore deux semaines pour candidater sur les bourses du Programme 911. Voir les sujets ici et là sur ce blog.

Le Forum Régional sur le Changement Climatique de Bangkok aura lieu cette année entre le 01 et 03 juillet. Il reste encore quelques invitations complètes ( transport/logement/frais d’inscription) dédiées aux chercheurs à mi-carrière avec une forte expertise en changement climatique et ressortissants des pays de l’ASEAN.  L’invitation est conditionnée à la validation par le Comité scientifique d’un abstract du chercheur, à déposer en ligne.

March in Hanoi, Sunshine and summer interns have arrived at CleanED. Three second year master students in Renewable Energy at University of Science and Technology of Hanoi started their six-months internship in our Hanoi lab before going to France 'really soon now'.

• Truong An Ha is researching the feasibility and sustainability of biomass co-firing in coal thermal power plant in Vietnam under the supervision of Professor Minh Ha-Duong and Mr. Nguyen Trinh Hoang Anh. She will be going to CIRED, Nogent sur Marne.
• Truong Vu Trung is studing the technology and economics of agricultural products dryers in Vietnam. Professor Helene Desmorieux and Professor Minh Ha-Duong are his tutors. He will be going to the LAGEP in Lyon.
• Le Nguyen Tri will be working on biomass pyrolysis and gasification with Laurent Van Den Steene at BioWooEB in Montpellier

Our departement is currently advertising nine PhD subjects in renewable energy for Vietnamese students. These are 911 program grants, the laureate will work for USTH upon returning to Vietnam after completing the PhD. Please spread the word, applications are open, not limited to USTH students. CleanED and the ER department will be an even more exciting place to work in 4 years !

We have the pleasure to announce that CleanED's first paper, by Nguyen Trinh Hoang Anh and Minh Ha-Duong, has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control. Here is the preprint: Perspective of CO2 capture & storage (CCS) development in Vietnam: Results from expert interviews.