Vietnam has great potential to be a leading country in renewable energy (RE). For that to happen, Vietnam needs to learn from the world’s leading RE markets. With the signed agreements, GICON and VPI will continue to strengthen cooperation in accordance with the potential and conditions of Vietnam in the fields of solar energy and wind energy.
Germany strengthens energy cooperation with Vietnam
Germany is the world leader in RE production. In 2020, RE accounted for 46.2% of Germany’s total electricity, increasing 3.8% over the same period last year. 2020 marked the first year this Western European country produced greater amounts of electricity from solar energy (51 TWh) than from coal (42.5 TWh). With these successes, Germany is a highly potential and prestigious partner to help Vietnam develop RE.
On August 4, in Dresden city of Germany, Mr. Nguyen Minh Vu Vietnamese Ambassador at Germany, worked with GICON Technology Solutions and Consulting Group to further promote cooperation in the development of the RE sector in Viet Nam. Attending the meeting, on the side of the Vietnamese Embassy in Germany, there were representatives from the fields of commerce, investment and defense. Meanwhile, on GICON’s side, there were Professor, Dr. Jochen Grossmann – President of GICON and some other leaders of GICON; On the side of the Vietnam Petroleum Institute (VPI) – a unit that directly cooperates with GICON – there was Dr. Nguyen Anh Duc, General Director of VPI, according to the VNA. In addition, attending the meeting were leaders of the German – Vietnamese Economic and Innovation Forum (DVIW), a bridge for the cooperation between VPI and GICON.
This program was also a step to specify the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation that GICON and VPI signed on March 29. At the meeting, Ambassador Nguyen Minh Vu highlighted the Vietnamese Government’s priorities for clean energy and sustainable development goals. Accordingly, Vietnam prioritized the efforts to develop the energy sector in a sustainable way with the goal of maintaining national energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and supported close cooperation between GICON and Vietnamese partner VPI. Ambassador Nguyen Minh Vu said that in the first 6 months of 2021, RE accounted for about 11.4% of Vietnam’s total national electricity output and had a tendency to keep growing.
“Vietnam has successfully developed many solar energy projects with the current total capacity of factories reaching approximately 6,000MW, mainly concentrating in the South Central provinces,” emphasized Ambassador Vu.
Regarding wind power, there are currently 9 operating wind farms in Vietnam with a total capacity of 304.6MW, the largest among which is the Bac Lieu wind farm with a capacity of nearly 100MW. Mr. Vu expressed his hope that with the signed agreement, GICON and VPI will continue to enhance information exchange and promote cooperation in this field based on the potential and conditions of Vietnam in the fields of solar and wind energy. In particular, the Ambassador emphasized that the focus is on offshore wind power production, thereby contributing to improving the environment, combating climate change as well as strengthening economic, commercial and investment relations between Germany and Vietnam.
Vietnam has high potential of RE development
It should be emphasized that, during the world’s energy transition period, Vietnam has a lot of potential to become one of the leading countries in RE with solar power, wind power and biomass power.
GICON Group President, Professor, Dr. Jochen Großmann said that with the advantage of having shoreline longer than 3,200km and the average wind speed in the East Sea of Vietnam every year greater than 6m/s at an altitude of 65m, wind energy development in Vietnam had great potential and prospects. With many years of experience in developing this field, GICON believed that they could cooperate and support Vietnam in promoting the development of environmentally friendly RE sources.
According to Professor, Dr. Jochen Großmann, VPI is an important partner of GICON in Vietnam. Since signing the MoU, GICON and VPI have actively cooperated in research, experience exchange, and discussion on specific cooperation projects in Vietnam. In the coming time, GICON hopes to make more contributions to help Vietnam develop this field, increase the proportion of RE in Vietnam’s total national electricity output, helping to improve the environment and combating climate change. Meanwhile, Dr. Nguyen Anh Duc – Director of VPI said that VPI and GICON had good cooperative relationship, and the two sides had been actively working together to do research and exchange experiences in this field.
GICON, having strengths in technology, techniques and long-term experience in RE development, is an important partner of VPI.
“In the near future, VPI will continue to work closely with GICON to promote the cooperation projects in the spirit of the mutually signed MoU,” affirmed Dr. Nguyen Anh Duc.
GICON Group, consisting of 11 member companies, is headquartered in Dresden, and specialized in providing services, consulting solutions, evaluating and developing projects, researching modern technologies in various fields such as environmental technology and ecosystem, energy, chemistry… GICON currently owns many patents and inventions in the field of RE and environmental protection. GICON wishes to work with VPI to research and apply these technologies to develop the RE industry in Vietnam.
Germany is one of the biggest donors to Vietnam in terms of RE
For more than 10 years, cooperation in energy in general and new energy and RE in particular continues to be one of the prioritized areas in the relationship between Vietnam and Germany. In particular, Germany is currently one of the biggest donors to Vietnam in this field. Currently, there are many German businesses participating in cooperation and investment in the energy transition in Vietnam, especially solar energy, wind energy, biomass and smart grid development.
Previously, the information was given at the RE exhibition organized by the German Embassy in association with GIZ (German Corporation for International Cooperation) in April this year. Mr. Weert Börner, Deputy Ambassador, Head of Economic Department of German Embassy in Vietnam affirmed that, with an investment of 7.4 billion USD in wind power and solar power, Vietnam has the potential to become a major RE producer in the world. According to 2020’s data, China is the world’s biggest investor in RE, with 83.6 billion USD, followed by the United States with 49.3 billion USD. The numbers of France and Germany are 7.3 billion USD and 7.1 billion USD respectively.
“Thus, Vietnam has preceded these two countries, ranking eighth in terms of RE investment globally,” the German diplomat emphasized.
“Vietnam has a lot of potential to become an RE powerhouse in solar power, wind power and biomass power, in the context that the world is facing an energy transition period due to the challenges of climate change,” said Mr. Guido Hildner, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Vietnam.
Source: vn.sputniknews.com
