5 practical actions to bring renewable energy "take off"

In mid-May 2022, during the release of the State of the Global Climate Report, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the world to quickly "accelerate the renewable energy transition". In Vietnam, right from the middle of the last decade, the development strategy of this field has taken shape with specific and key tasks and the mindset of putting clean electricity into operation soon.

United Nations solution groups

Specifically, the United Nations advocates for removing barriers to knowledge sharing and technology transfer for renewable energy development. In particular, special attention is paid to solutions for battery storage and electricity regeneration to ensure sustainability in operation. This helps reduce investment costs for transmission systems, thereby increasing access to clean electricity for remote communities.

To accelerate the transition, countries need to be facilitated with global access to essential manufacturing components and raw materials such as wind turbines, solar cells, power grids, etc. Technological and infrastructural change is the driving force of human transformation with skills training, research and building sustainable practices for the long-term ecosystem and culture.

A corner of the solar panel assembly line in Georgia (USA) of Hanwa Q Cell Corporation from Korea

Mr. Antonio Guterres also called on the governments of many countries to build an open legal framework, encouraging the private sector to invest to take advantage of the strengths of technology, professional capacity and capital.

In addition, the fossil fuel development budget is also proposed to gradually shift to renewable energy. According to the International Monetary Fund, about $11 billion a day is spent on subsidies, tax breaks, and health and environmental damage to support coal, oil, etc. However, they bring benefit the richest 20% of the population. Therefore, shifting the above subsidy to renewable energy is not only beneficial for the environment but also provides a solution to ensure social justice for disadvantaged groups.

In rural areas, more and more lighting systems using solar energy are appearing, for example, the route to Nui Cam microwave station, Ha Giang city (Source: Ha Giang newspaper)

In addition, between now and 2030, the United Nations emphasizes that the world needs at least $4 trillion a year in investments in technology and infrastructure to achieve the goal of being carbon neutral by mid-century. By calculations, this amount is not as high as the annual fossil fuel subsidy, but will bring a significant effect. The United Nations said that capital in many countries is now always available, the sufficient condition is the commitment, action and accountability of countries.

Vietnam's renewable energy is ready to transform

As a country with great potential for development, Vietnam has long had a plan to promote renewable energy. In 2015, the Government approved the Renewable Energy Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2030. In April 2022, the Draft National Power Development Planning in the New Period (called the Master Plan). Power 8) was adopted also giving special attention to this area.

According to Power Plan 8, by the middle of this century, renewable power capacity will account for about 45.6 - 52% of the national scale, equivalent to 129,851 - 201,647 MW. To achieve this goal, Vietnam needs 35.6 billion USD to keep the normal electricity price, develop the power system,... In fact, in the period of 2019 - 2020, there are up to 16,500MW of projects alone. Solar power comes into operation, accounting for about 24% of the total installed capacity. This shows that renewable energy development policies in Vietnam are effective.

With the total capacity of Power Plan 8 set for 2045, the scale of electricity from renewable energy sources will increase by about 636.0% - 864.3% compared to 2025.

Enterprises investing in renewable energy, regardless of economic sector, are fully exempt from environmental protection tax and reduce land rent. Within 15 years from the date of having taxable income, the tax rate of the enterprise will gradually increase from 0% to 20%. Besides, the output of the power source is always guaranteed with the FIT pricing mechanism.

In terms of capital, enterprises are loaned up to 70% of project investment capital by the Vietnam Development Bank with low interest rates. In addition, a portion of traditional fuel subsidies will be transferred to renewable energy development through the Sustainable Energy Development Fund. Accordingly, the Government will use the revenue from environmental fees for fossil fuels to invest in the power system and grid; support scientific research projects; projects to deploy renewable energy in rural areas and islands;...

An interior corner of Vietnam's first wind turbine factory. This is a line invested by General Electric in Hai Phong (Source: Vietnamnet newspaper)

With an open policy, a series of "big guys" in the field of renewable energy in the world such as First Solar, HT Solar, General Electric, ... have chosen Vietnam as the place to install component production lines, solar cell and wind turbine components. This helps our country to both be proactive in the source of important production materials and absorb the transfer of modern technology.

In addition, not only paying attention to national key projects, the Development Strategy also states that renewable energy projects will be the key solutions for the electrification of rural and island areas. Accordingly, in remote areas, renewable energy projects will not connect to the grid but serve the local needs of people. The next step in the transition roadmap is to develop an energy storage system to ensure the sustainability of the generation source and increase access to clean electricity in disadvantaged areas.

Sustainable development needs pioneering enterprises

In national development strategies, private enterprises can be the key to a successful renewable energy transition.

With the characteristics of mastering science and technology, a highly qualified and experienced workforce of many projects, large enterprises like RT Energy have always been key factors in the race to promote renewable energy. create.

At RT Energy, the group aims to link its development with the process of reducing carbon emissions, contributing to the Net-Zero process of Vietnam as well as the world. To that end, RT Energy aims to scale up its renewable energy project portfolio to 500MW by 2023, aiming for a total capacity of 1GW by 2025.

Adani Phuoc Minh wind power project of RT Energy Group in Ninh Thuan has a total capacity of 27.2MW

The Group is also promoting research on projects using new technologies in accordance with the spirit of the Draft Power Master Plan 8. Prominent among them is renewable energy combining battery storage or green hydrogen production. In addition, RT Energy will build and operate green industrial park projects with 100% of electricity coming from renewable energy.

In 2021, RT Energy has put into operation 2 renewable energy projects: Adani Phuoc Minh wind power and Adani Phuoc Minh solar power with a total investment of 2150 billion VND. The above two projects of RT have the cooperation of the world's leading enterprises in the energy field such as GE Power (USA), Henste engineering (Singapore), JA Solar (China), Rina (headquartered in Genoa) , IDEA),...

In 2021, RT Energy's 50MW Adani Phuoc Minh solar power project has reached the finish line on schedule, despite the impacts from Covid-19

Currently, the group has also approved the policy of surveying and preparing to invest in a multi-purpose solar power project in Khanh Hoa province, a rooftop solar power cluster in Binh Phuoc; wind power project in Tien Giang province; wind power AH1, AH2 in Ben Tre province with a total capacity of 975 MW and a total estimated investment capital of more than VND 30,000 billion.

Thus, with available resources and a long-term vision from pioneering businesses like RT Energy, and an appropriate development strategy, Vietnam's renewable energy transition is accelerating faster than ever before. towards a green, clean and sustainable world for future generations./ .