Biomass energy for the sustainable development of Viet Nam
Viet Nam has immense potential to develop renewable energy, especially biomass energy, which plays an important role in generating clean electricity and contributing to rural development while reducing carbon emissions and mitigating adverse climate change impacts. Building on insights from the recently closed IKI project “Cultivation of energy crops on former mining sites in Viet Nam” (CPEP) under the lead of UfU, the upcoming IKI project on “Climate protection through bioenergy markets in Viet Nam” (or bioenergy markets, BEM in short) will deal with the future development of the biomass industry in Viet Nam.
For CPEP, a site-specific closing workshop took place on one of the project’s pilot sites at Nui Phao Mine in Thai Nguyen Province in October 2018. During the workshop, representatives of the mining company, the Thai Nguyen University for Agriculture and Forestry, and the provincial environmental administration (DONRE) discussed the site-specific cultivation systems implemented as part of the project. A major achievement of the project was that it demonstrated that the cultivation of energy crops on mining sites in different regions in Viet Nam is possible and can offer economic benefits, depending on the planting system.
A representative of GIZ, which will implement the project together with the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority (EREA) under Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), made his remarks on the status, perspectives and future support of biomass energy in the country during CPEPs final workshop held on 11 October 2018 in Hanoi. Set over four years with a budget of up to 4 million Euros, the aim of BEM is to improve the preconditions for the sustainable use of biomass for electricity and heat generation. This includes the improvement of private sector capacity for the development of biomass investment projects; the facilitation of government planning and licensing for biomass energy projects; an improvement in the capacity of financial institutions to finance biomass energy investment projects; and the facilitation of technology cooperation between Vietnamese and international stakeholders on the use of biomass for electricity and heat generation.
Contact: Dr. Michael Zschiesche, UfU, michael.zschiesche@ufu.de and Tobias Cossen, GIZ Viet Nam, tobias.cossen@giz.de