Environmental impacts of wind power

A wind farm of Trung Nam Group in Ninh Thuan Province in the central region of Viet Nam. The country aims to have 44 per cent of its power from renewable energy. — Photo courtesy of Trung Nam Group

Viet Nam needs about $128.3 billion of investment capital to develop its electricity industry in 2021-2030, according to draft electricity planning released by the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

On February 9, the MoIT issued a draft national electricity development planning project for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 or the power master plan VIII and asked other ministries and agencies to contribute their ideas.

With forecasts that Viet Nam’s GDP growth will reach an average of 6.6 per cent per year in 2031-2045 and 5.7 per cent per year in 2031-2045, the MoIT forecast the supply of commercial electricity to reach 491 billion kWh by 2030, and 877 billion kWh by 2045.

The draft expected by 2030, the total installed capacity of electricity sources in the country would reach 137.2 GW including 27 per cent from coal-fired thermal power, 21 per cent from gas thermal power, 18 per cent from hydroelectricity, 29 per cent from wind power, solar and renewable energy and 4 per cent from the imported sources and 1 per cent from other types of energy from storage devices.

The MoIT’s draft said by 2045, the total installed capacity will reach nearly 276.7 GW including 18 per cent from coal-fired thermal power, 24 per cent from gas thermal power, 9 per cent from hydroelectricity, 44 per cent from wind power, solar and renewable energy and 2 per cent from the imported sources and 3 per cent from other types of energy from storage devices.

The power master plan VIII encourages the development of renewable energy and discourages hydroelectricity. Renewables made up 13 per cent of power in 2020 and are aimed to make up 30 per cent by 2030 and 44 per cent by 2045.

Regarding the power grid development programme, the plan proposes to continue building the 500kV power transmission system to transmit electricity from major power source centres in the Central Highlands, south-central, north-central and central regions to the large load centres in HCM City and the Red River Delta. It also asked to strengthen the interconnected transmission grid to support the transmission of power capacity.

In the draft, they also research the application of smart grid and the 4.0 technology in power transmission to calculate and propose in the master plan.

The MoIT calculated total investment capital for electricity development in 2021-2030 of about $128.3 billion including $95.4 billion for electricity and $32.9 billion for the grid.

For the next 15 years, the ministry calculated the need at about $192.3 billion including $140.2 billion for electricity and $52.1 billion for the grid.

Combining the two periods, Viet Nam needs $320.6 billion to develop its national power system. — VNS

The Hanoitimes – The One Commune One Product (OCOP) program, which has been implemented since 2019, has created a breakthrough in rural economic development in Hanoi.

Permanent Deputy Chief of the Hanoi Office of New Rural Development Program Coordination Nguyen Van Chi talked to Hanoitimes about how to effectively implement the One Commune One Product (OCOP) program.

OCOP products on display at a promotion fair. Photo: Hoai Nam

Could you name some outstanding results from the implementation of the OCOP program in Hanoi?

Implementing the prime minister’s decision, the Hanoi People’s Committee immediately issued a concrete plan to roll out the OCOP program for the 2019 – 2020 period. In 2019, Hanoi had 301 OCOP products, including six products submitted for being labeled with five stars.

In 2020, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, localities have made great efforts to promote the program. So far this year, 147 products from five districts and towns have been evaluated and classified as OCOP ones.

For five-star products, Hanoi will support and submit them for evaluation and inclusion in the national OCOP list. In addition, the city maps out a policy of upgrading the rating of all OCOP products, those of three stars to four stars, and those of four stars to five stars.

In the process of implementing the OCOP program, what difficulties are entities in Hanoi facing?

In fact, the production scale of the facilities is still small. As products are mainly semi processed, we are building an investment project for deep processing to improve the quality of products. The local handicraft industry is causing strong environmental pollution, thus, Hanoi has requested departments, branches and localities to focus on environmental impact assessment to draw up solutions. Design and the quality of products also need to be improved in the coming time.

Design and the quality of products also need to be improved in the coming time.

What solution does Hanoi have to address the consumption of OCOP products?

In addition to consulting and assisting the businesses to improve the quality of products for evaluation at all levels, in the OCOP product development cycle, Hanoi has also focused on promoting sales. In 2020, Hanoi has issued a plan to organize four events to promote, introduce and sell OCOP products with provinces in the Northern mountainous, Red River Delta, Central – Central Highlands and Southern regions.

Due to the impact of Covid-19, the implementation progress has been slower than expected. However, we have managed to organize three events recently. The remaining event will be held in December 2020. Through the evaluation of the Vietnam Retailers Association, after three trade networking events, about 65% of the memoranda of understanding to sell OCOP products in distribution channels have been effectively implemented.

What are your suggestions to effectively implement the program?

We are aware of the importance of the quality management of OCOP products. The city has conducted four inspections and evaluations of those who have been granted OCOP product certificates. Any business that fail to comply with quality standards will see its certificate revoked. In fact, the implementation process in the past period shows that localities are very active in upgrading the quality of OCOP products. Entities are also aware of the importance of OCOP-labeled products. This will be the premise for Hanoi to complete the objective of the OCOP program to ensure the criteria of quantity and quality.

Thank you for the interview with Hanoitimes!

As scheduled, the project will be completed in 2023, lifting the total length of the wharf system to 2,368m, enabling the handling of over 80 million tonnes of goods per year.

DTG also has a plan to build a terminal serving ships transporting gas, oil and other liquids, turning the Long An international port into a multi-purpose seaport.

The Long An international port covers an area of 147 ha, including 7 wharves with a total length of  1,670m, which are capable of receiving 30,000-70,000 DWT ships, and four barge berths that are able to accommodate barges of 2,000 tonnes. It boasts experience and other favourable factors in handling super-sized and super-weight items which require complicated cargo handling process.

In 2020, the port signed strategic cooperation agreements with partners in the Mekong Delta region, helping businesses reduce costs, improve competitiveness and maximise operation efficiency.

Previously, on January 22, a strategic cooperation agreement was signed between representatives of the port and those from units specialising in developing major wind power projects in Vietnam.

Source: VNA