Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ueso20 Mission, challenges, and prospects of renewable energy development in Vietnam Xuan Phuong Nguyen, Ngoc Dung Le, Van Viet Pham, Thanh Tung Huynh, Van Huong Dong & Anh Tuan Hoang To cite this article: Xuan Phuong Nguyen, Ngoc Dung Le, Van Viet Pham, Thanh Tung Huynh, Van Huong Dong & Anh Tuan Hoang (2021): Mission, challenges, and prospects of renewable energy development in Vietnam, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2021.1965264 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2021.1965264 Published online: 11 Aug 2021 Submit your article to this journal View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ueso20 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2021.1965264 Mission, challenges, and prospects of renewable energy development in Vietnam Xuan Phuong Nguyena, Ngoc Dung Leb, Van Viet Pham Van Huong Dongd, and Anh Tuan Hoang c a , Thanh Tung Huynhc, a PATET Research Group, Ho Chi Minh City University Of Transport, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; bFaculty Of Technology, Dong Nai Technology University, Dong Nai, Vietnam; cInstitute of Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; dInstitute Of Maritime, Ho Chi Minh City University Of Transport, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Energy is the lifeblood of modern economies as the latter is fueled by the energy demand for everyday life production and consumption Dubbed as the period of “green economic development,” the 21st-century witnesses new development and extraordinary advances in technologies to produce energy generating from endless sources of renewable energy found in the natural environment Driving by the fossil fuels depletion rate forecast over the next 100 years and the dire warnings on the projected impact of climate change, Vietnam has identified energy security and sustainable energy development as indispensable elements in the country’s strategic path toward sustainability in the coming century With the issuance and adoption of a strategic orientation for sustainable energy development through 2030 and vision to 2045, the Vietnamese government has demonstrated their commitment on priorities in ensuring national energy security, providing stable, high quality, and affordable energy supply for sustainable socioeconomic development, improving livelihoods, and contributing to the pro tection of the natural environment Developing in harmony among subsectors with synchronous and intelligent infrastructure, the renewable energy industry has reached a new level among regions around the world The paper presents opportunities, potentials, challenges, and goals of renew able energy development in Vietnam With comprehensive analysis and review of renewable energy forms in the period of 2020 through 2030, the authors aim to create a basis for proposing policy and economic solutions for timely and effective implementation of national energy policy goals set for 2030 and vision to 2045 Received 28 February 2021 Revised 14 July 2021 Accepted 31 July 2021 KEYWORDS Renewable energy; opportunities; challenges; development strategies; visions Introduction Against the backdrop of heightened public concern over climate change and other pressing environ mental issues, the continued increase in global energy demand and depletion of fossil fuels reserves will pose significant challenges in maintaining sustainable economic growth (Hoang et al 2021a) Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement at the conclusion of COP21 in December 2015, nearly 200 countries have joined in signing the agreement signifying a global commitment to combat climate change by lowering greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and limiting the increase in the global average temperature to below degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels (Rhodes 2016)(Nguyen et al 2021b) As the number of GHG-emitting sources (e.g., vehicles, power plants, industrial facilities) is on the rise, state leaders face mounting pressure in devising a suitable and effective economic policy to CONTACT Anh Tuan Hoang hatuan@hutech.edu.vn (HUTECH), Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Institute of Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology X P NGUYEN ET AL ensure both long-term energy security and environmental sustainability (Wójcik-Gront 2020)(The Prime Minister, 2015) According to reports published by British Petroleum Company plc and BP Amoco plc, global investment in renewable energy development has grown significantly in recent years with a record growth of 15.3% in 2019 (Ptasinski 2016) At the same time, the cost of renewable energy is falling faster than previously forecast, especially for wind and solar energy, which signals increased competitiveness of renewables to conventional sources of energy Declining costs and rising capacity factors coupled with a high level of investment and rapid technological advancements are driving the replacement of renewable energy over fossil energy sources in current and future global energy production (Chang, Fang, and Li 2016)(York and Bell 2019) Vietnam is a country that is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change Despite having a large potential for renewable energy development, Vietnam still relies on traditional energy sources such as medium and large hydropower, coal, oil, and natural gas for domestic energy production and consumption (Nong, Wang, and AlAmin 2020)(Feeny, Trinh, and Zhu 2021) As these finite sources of fossil fuels continued to be exhausted, Vietnam is transitioning from the role of an energy exporter to an energy-importing country Therefore, the development of renewable energy sources is deemed to be of great significance in reducing the country’s continued reliance on imported fossil fuels, lowering emissions and meeting its greenhouse gas reduction target, ensuring energy security, and achieving national sustainable development goals Currently, recent publications on renewable energy in Vietnam have been focusing mainly on solar energy as an emerging form of energy with rapid development but lacks comprehensive reviews of other potential forms of renewable energy such as biomass, small hydropower, and wind Consequently, a picture of the development potential of renewable energy in Vietnam is yet to be sketched panoramic and lacking many corners insight from structural improvement to the goals and policy development as well as solution Therefore, this paper aims to provide readers with a review of Vietnam’s renewable energy development strategies with a vision to 2050, current policy strengths and weaknesses in realizing these strategies, as well as objectives to increase the market share of renewable energy in Vietnam and contribute to the country’s sustainable goals Policy and plan of renewable energy development in some countries Renewable energy has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by policy support and a strong cost reduction for solar photovoltaic and wind energy in particular The electricity sector remains the focus for renewable energy development with the strong growth of solar photovoltaic and wind energy in recent years (Duong et al 2018) Despite incredible renewable energy growth in the sector, electricity still only accounts for 1/5 of total global energy production Energy uses in transportation and heating still present huge opportunities and room for advancement for the renewable energy industry Renewable power capacity is set to expand 50% from 2019 to 2024 mainly led by the sun solar photovoltaic installation (Ngo et al 2020) Solar photovoltaic makes up almost 60% of the projected growth, while on-shore wind accounts for nearly a quarter While currently making up only projected growth in renewable capacity, capacity forecast to triple by 2024 Competitive auctions in the European Union and the expansion of markets in China and the United States are the driving forces behind such growth Biological energy capacity grows as much as offshore wind, with the largest expansion in China, India, and the European Union In spite of slow growth, hydropower accounts for 1/10 out of the total projected growth in renewable energy capacity It could be seen from Figure that Nationally Determined Contributions starting in 2020 could be an important opportunity to enhance renewable power targets, in which renewables are deployed more extensively, corresponding to 7.7 TW, could offer a high efficiency in cost and bring noticeable benefits over social and economic side compared to current plan with 5.2 TW by 2030 (IRENA 2019) Diversity in renewable energy capacity investment and technology development is demonstrated by the positive results achieved across sets of different activities in both developed and developing countries around the world The United States, in particular, which has often led the world in the ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS Figure Projected deployment of renewable electricity under various scenarios (IRENA 2019) support of renewable source-based energy technologies at both the state and federal level (Stokes and Warshaw 2017), saw a growth of 9% in the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources in 2016 with a renewable energy target of 14% in the country’s total electricity output (Omer 2017) Of which, the amounts of electricity generated from wind and solar account for 5.2% and 0.8%, respectively Keeping in pace with recent development made in the wind and solar energy sectors through sufficient energy infrastructure upgrades, it is possible that the U.S power industry can reduce 78% of carbon emissions from generating-related activities by 2030 As a case in point, Babcock Ranch (Florida, U.S) has become one of the most sustainable and environmentally friendly communities in the world by successfully having 100% of its electricity generated from renewable energy sources with the innovative application of smart grid technology Across the Atlantic, European countries find themselves leading the world in advancing and promoting renewable energy development and building economies supported by clean energy infra structure To accelerate the implementation of the “Clean energy for the whole of Europe” plan, at the end of 2018, the member states of the European Union (EU) approved the proposal of the European Commission (EC) on an investment package of 873 million Euros for major European-based projects supporting the development of clean energy infrastructure (Unteutsch and Lindenberger 2016) (Ghaemi and Olszewski 2017) These renewable energy projects aim to link and enhance the security of energy networks throughout Europe Consequently, the successful roll-out and implementation of these projects will enable EU members to accelerate their transition to a more sustainable, competitive, and safe low-carbon economy Such progress further supports one of the EC’s priorities to create an energy union in order to transform Europe into a clean and modern economy Among the different European nations, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland are the world’s leaders in energy conversion; followed by Finland and Denmark In particular, Switzerland’s energy system is considered the most sustainable in the world, with nearly two-thirds of the country’s electricity made up of hydropower and renewable energy Another outstanding example is Germany which is currently making great efforts to become the first country in the world to use 100% renewable energy (Scheer 2013)(Wu 2018) Germany’s Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety have pub lished a roadmap outlining the process in the country’s implementation plans toward achieving a full renewable-based economy In 2016, total renewable energy produced in Germany met 32% of its electricity consumption The staggering statistics, break the notion that wind and solar are not reliable X P NGUYEN ET AL energy resources due to their intermittent nature (Nelson 2013)(Lisowski 2019) It is worth noting that out of Germany’s total renewable energy production, biomass energy has developed at the fastest speed and for the very first time, it has surpassed hydropower Furthermore, provisions of The Renewable Energy Sources Act or EEG Law, set increasing targets for electricity generated in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany to be from renewable energy sources (Gondal, Masood, and Khan 2018)(Konur et al 2019) In Asia, many countries are also in the process of transitioning to clean energy China’s National Energy Administration states that clean energy is expected to surpass coal in terms of the country’s generating capacity over the next 10 years (Zhang et al 2017)(He et al 2016) As the world’s secondlargest economy, China set an ambitious goal for the development of clean energy resources which will account for 50% of its total electricity generation capacity by 2030 India is another country that has placed a heavy emphasis on renewable energy development by implementing new programs and initiatives In 2016, India and France co-founded the International Solar Alliance with a goal to promote solar energy on a global scale The country has launched a renewable energy expansion program and is expected to produce 175 GW of electricity from renewable sources by 2022 In 2014, South Korea spent 17.9% of national spending on research and development of renewable energy related-technology The South Korean government also announced a plan to build more solar and wind power plants across the country to triple the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources (Kim et al 2015) In Southeast Asia, since the Paris Agreement on climate change was ratified, as well as the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions signed, countries in the region have focused on applying solutions to convert to less carbon-intensive resources Investments in clean energy supply infrastructure to meet the goals of the INDC are forecast to increase and ASEAN countries will need 2,100 billion USD for this sector by 2030 (Hoang, Pham, and Nguyen 2021) (Chapman et al 2020) Potentials and goals for renewable energy development in Vietnam Potentials Vietnam has particularly great potential in exploiting renewable energy sources such as hydro electricity, wind power, solar power, and biomass power Among these, biomass accounts for the largest share of all renewable energy sources, followed by wind, solar, and hydropower, shown in Figure In addition, the energy transformed from waste has begun to develop while geothermal and tidal energy is still in their infancy Indeed, in 2020, the proportion of the power source from Figure Structure of potential and current capacity of renewable power in Vietnam (EVN 2021) ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS Figure Vietnamese structure of total energy and renewable energy sources for electricity production in 2020 (Vu et al 2019) renewable energy (except medium and large hydropower) has accounted for 36.5% of the total installed capacity of the whole system as shown in Figure If Vietnam includes medium and large hydropower plants, the proportion of renewable energy in the current capacity of power sources is more than 46% Solar Solar energy is playing an increasing role in the country’s energy mixture Compared with traditional energy (fossil coal), solar energy has many advantages over the ability to reproduce and secure the environment (Liu et al 2019)(Nguyen 2020b) The potential to develop solar energy in Vietnam is enormous but yet to be fully exploited because Vietnam’s main renewable production coming from hydropower plants with resources that are gradually depleted (Polo et al 2015)(Riva Sanseverino et al 2020) Vietnam has total daylight hours of 2500 hours per year; the total annual radiation is relatively high, up to 230–250 KCl/cm2, although there are differences between the regions In the South Central highlands, radiation is nearly 1.4 times the Northeast and the Red River Delta Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI), radiation, a measure of solar energy that reaches a unit of land area at a square corner, fluctuates between 4–5 kWh/m2 Major cities such as Ho Chi Minh City The average annual solar energy for major cities in Vietnam is as follows: Ho Chi Minh City (5.20 kWh/day), Hanoi (3.84 kWh/day), Da Nang (4.88 kWh/day) According to the MOIT/GIZ Energy Assistance Program Preliminary evaluation, the potential of grid-connected large-scale solar power projects in Vietnam is about 20 GW, On the other hand, rooftop solar has a potential capacity from 2–5 GW Despite such a large solar potential, by 2014, Vietnam had only MW of electrical capacity from solar panels (Wang et al 2019) In 2017, solar energy played almost no role in Vietnam’s energy development strategy But by the end of 2019, Vietnam surpassed Malaysia and Thailand to become the country with the largest installed capacity of solar panels in Southeast Asia (The Prime Minister, 2017)(Ministry of Industry and Trade, 2017) The output of photovoltaic projects in Vietnam has reached GW, far exceeding the Government’s target of 1GW by 2020 In mid-2020, Sharp Energy Solutions Corporation (SESJ) completed a large-capacity solar power plant in Ninh Thuan province The plant is expected to X P NGUYEN ET AL produce up to 76373 MWh/year This is the newest plant, next to the current five solar power plants of SESJ in Vietnam Hydropower Vietnam is located in a tropical climate with heavy rainfall with a change in altitude from more than 3100 m to sea level, creating large potential energy due to the difference in terrain; therefore, Vietnam has a relatively large hydropower resource Vietnam can exploit the hydropower capacity of about 90– 100 billion kWh of electricity (EVN 2019) In fact, hydropower is the renewable energy source with the highest capacity, contributing about 40% to the total national electricity capacity According to statistics, Vietnam has exploited almost all of the large and medium-sized hydropower plants (with a capacity of over 100 MW) (Nguyen, Pham, and Lobry de Bruyn 2017) However, more than 1,000 sites in Vietnam are still capable of exploiting small hydropower with a total capacity of more than 7,000 MW (Figure 2), showing that Vietnam still has a lot of potential for small hydropower development in the future (Vo and Cao 2019) Besides, the construction of small power plants does not require large capital investment More importantly, it does not destroy large tracts of forest and agricultural land, and natural habitats due to the absence of large reservoirs Wind Vietnam is located in the tropical monsoon region and has a coastline of more than 3,200 km with an average wind speed of about m/s at an altitude of 65 m Moreover, in the middle and late summer, the southwest monsoon from the Southern Hemisphere sub-solstice high pressure is significantly active The geographical advantages have given Vietnam a lot of potential for wind energy According to the project of the World Bank (Meier, Vagliasindi, and Imran 2014), Vietnam’s onshore wind power potential can reach 30 GW, while this energy offshore can be 100 GW Indeed, there are nine wind power plants/farms with a total capacity of 304.6 MW built mainly in Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Bac Lieu, and Quang Tri The most prominent and largest wind farm in Bac Lieu 1&2 with a capacity of 99.2 MW, which has been in operation since 2016 Furthermore, there are 18 wind farms with an estimated capacity of 812 MW under construction, in which the project Bac Lieu and Khai Long have a capacity of over 100 MW More interestingly, with an area of more than million km2 of sea zones, Vietnam is considered to have great potential for offshore wind power development According to a report by the World Bank’s Energy Management Assistance Program, on the Vietnamese coast from to 200 km, the total technical potential of offshore wind power is up to 475 GW, of which the fixed foundation is 261 GW and the floating foundation is up to 214 GW (Dutton et al 2019)(The Prime Minister, 2018) In fact, foreign investors are taking the first steps in implementing a series of projects with investment capital of tens of billions of dollars to develop offshore wind power in Vietnam For example, the Thang Long Wind project with a scale of 3.4 GW, with a total investment of up to 11.9 billion USD, has completed the installation of floating buoys by July 2021 Besides, La Gan offshore wind power project, with a capacity of 3.5 GW, with an investment of about 10.5 billion USD from Asiapetro, Novasia Energy, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is the largest offshore wind power project in Vietnam Finally, the potential for wind power development can be summarized in the study by IFS (Ha Duong et al 2019), which evaluates three scenarios for the development of the electricity industry in Vietnam including Old Plan, New Normal, and Factor Three Furthermore, the ISF study also revealed the potential figures for onshore and offshore wind power in Vietnam, depicted in Figure Biomass The sustainable exploitation capacity to produce biomass energy in Vietnam is about 150 million tons /year (The Prime Minister, 2015, 2014) Biomass has the most abundant potential with a total potential capacity of 318000 MW, depicted in Figure Capacity generated from agricultural waste biomass, animal wastes, organic waste reaches about 400 MW (Minister of Industry and Trade, 2015) (The Prime Minister, 2020) In particular, some types of biomass that can be exploited immediately to ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS Figure The potential for onshore and offshore wind power in Vietnam (Ha Duong et al 2019) produce electricity or apply energy cogeneration technology (producing both electricity and heat) are rice straw in the Mekong Delta, excess bagasse in sugar plants, energy crops such as elephant grass, domestic waste in big cities, animal waste and other organic waste from agro-forestry-seafood processing (Luu and Halog 2016)(Chau et al 2020) Besides, biomass energy from wood in Vietnam could reach 14.6 million tons of oil equivalent in 2030, while agricultural waste can reach 20.6 million tons of oil equivalent by 2030, and urban waste can reach about 1.5 million tons of oil equivalent by 2030 (Tran et al 2018)(Dinh 2017) The Mekong Delta is the region with the largest potential for developing the biomass energy sector, accounting for 33.4%; followed by North Central and Central Coast with 21.8% (Alidrisi and Demirbas 2016)(Veidt et al 2018) More interestingly, regarding the potential of rice straw power generation, Vietnam is capable of implementing 166 projects with a total capacity of 299 MW, in which the Red River Delta has about 23 projects with a capacity of 41 MW and the Mekong River Delta is 93 projects with a capacity of 167 MW (Cuong et al 2021) Goals According to the Electrical Planning adjustment, phase 2016–2030, wind and solar energy for electricity production were especially exploited, with the total wind power capacity being put into operation from 800 MW (in 2020), 2,000 MW (in 2025), and 6,000 MW (in 2030) It is expected to bring the total solar power from a negligible current to about 850 MW in 2020, about 4,000 MW in 2025, and about 12,000 MW in 2030, depicted in Figure Thus, by the year 2025, the total power of wind power and solar power reaches 36 billion kWh (which surpasses the renewable energy develop ment goal of about 2.6 times) (Xuan Son and Thi Gam 2021) While the coal electric heat accounts for about 37.1% of the power (13% reduction over the Power Plan adjusted) The electromechanical heat accounted for 13.7% (unchanged from the planning), hydropower accounts for 18.2%, small hydro power, and renewable energy accounted for 25.5% (higher than Power Plan adjusted of 13%) The city waste treatment rate for energy purposes was increased from a negligible level currently to 30% by 2025, about 70% in 2030, and nearly 100% in 2045 Guiding by the National Energy Development Strategy of Vietnam to 2030, vision to the year 2045 of Vietnam has indicated that: providing sufficient domestic energy demand, meeting the goals of the strategy of socio-economic development of 10 years 2021–2030 In it, by 2030, primary energy reaches about 175–195 million TOE (a ton of oil equivalent), by 2045, reaches 320–350 million TOE The total capacity of electricity sources reaches 125–130 GW by 2030, the electricity output reaches X P NGUYEN ET AL Figure Proportion and a total capacity of six energy sources in National Energy Development Strategy (G of V The Prime Minister 2015) Figure Strategies to increase the proportion of renewable energy sources in production and consumption (G of V The Prime Minister 2015) 550–600 billion kWh The proportion of renewable energy sources in the total primary energy supply will reach 15–20% by 2030; 25–30% by 2045, shown in Figure Total energy consumption by 2030 will reach 105–115 million TOE, by 2045 will reach 160–190 million TOE Primary energy intensity in 2030 will reach from 420–460 kilograms of oil equivalent (KGOE)/1,000 USD GDP, in 2045 from 375–410 KGOE/1,000 USD GDP Therefore, it is necessary to build an intelligent, ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS efficient, and capable grid system connecting the region; ensure a safe power supply, meeting N-1 criteria for important load areas and N-2 for extremely important load areas (Riva Sanseverino et al 2020) By 2030, the reliability of the Vietnamese electricity supply will be in the top countries in ASEAN, the power access index will be in the top countries in ASEAN Oil refineries meet at least 70% of domestic demand; ensure a strategic petroleum reserve of at least 90 days of net import The rate of energy-saving on energy consumption compared to the average development scenario reach 7% in 2030 and about 14% in 2045 The reduction level of greenhouse gas emissions from energy activities compared to the normal development scenario at 15% in 2030 and 20% in 2045 (G of V The Prime Minister 2015) Current challenges and future prospects Current challenges Renewable energy requires governments to address three main challenges: (1) Policy and regulatory uncertainty (2) High investment risks in developing countries (3) Integration of wind and solar systems in some countries In spite of several advantages, when it comes to wind energy, one needs to pay close attention to some specific characteristics to be able to develop it most effectively The biggest disadvantage of wind power is its dependence on weather conditions and wind regimes (Harris, Boots, and Lovells 2016) Therefore, wind power cannot be the main energy source However, the combina tion of wind power and stored hydropower opens the door for opportunities to develop energy in areas like the Central Highlands Another point to note is that wind power stations will generate noise pollution during operation, as well as disrupting the natural landscape, and may affect the signal of radio waves (Phat 2012) Therefore, when planning for wind power construction zones, it is necessary to calculate reasonable distances to residential areas and tourist areas to limit potential negative impacts and adverse health effects In Vietnam, regions that can develop wind energy uneven spread across the entire territory With the influence of monsoon, the wind regime is also different In addition, the potential for solar power development in Vietnam is quite large, but Vietnam has not yet applied and exploited this source of energy effectively and sustainably In general, here are the challenges and difficulties that Vietnam is facing: (1) - The cost of installing the initial solar power system is quite high: This is probably the first difficulty when developing solar power in Vietnam Companies, businesses or households, are discouraged by the large initial financial investment in installing the system and potential long return of investment Given that, solar power is still a relatively new source of energy in Vietnam, it yet to gain public trust and public awareness of solar energy’s environmental benefits (2) - Safe and efficient operation of large capacity systems: Ensuring safe and efficient operation in high capacity solar power systems is a challenge that is not unique to Vietnam For countries with a more robust renewable energy industry such as Germany, this also poses a problem As the solar power system produces power up and down almost instantaneously, it does not guarantee stability like other systems (Phuangpornpitak and Tia 2013) In addition, the amount of electricity produced needs to be almost immediately consumed or connected to the grid The solar power reserve system is quite limited Because when the sun does not shine, the solar power system will generate energy At this time, the grid must immediately compensate for the loss of solar power Therefore, effectively and reliably integrate large solar energy systems in the current national grid requires a considerable amount of work and careful planning It is therefore a complex and difficult problem that requires further extensive research and development (3) - Quality of inverter converters: The current produced by solar power is direct current (McKeogh 2018) While the current for our normal power consumption load is alternating 10 X P NGUYEN ET AL current To convert direct current to alternating current, we have to use an inverter The quality of the inverter has a direct effect on the system operations and energy distribution to end-users Future prospects Vietnam has issued a series of guidelines and policies to promote the development of renewable energy Indeed, Politburo issued Resolution No 55-NQ/TW dated February 11, 2020, on the strategic orientation of Vietnam’s national energy development to 2030, with a vision to 2045 This Resolution emphasizes the need for breakthrough policies to exploit the potential of renewable energy in the country, reduce the pressure of dependence on imported fuel sources, and especially focus on exploiting wind and solar energy sources With the Government’s mechanism to encourage the development of renewable energy sources, it promises to attract many investors to actively participate in research and investment proposals for renewable energy power projects The government adopts policies to encourage renewable energy development in the context of changes Featured, policies to encourage renewable energy development played a critical role in recent successes in Vietnam in the solar and footwear industry These policies encourage investment in renewable energy by ensuring a higher price than the market for manufacturers More interesting, manufacturers participate in long-term contracts, FIT helps to reduce the risk of capital in renewable energy projects Moreover, the revised FIT program was enacted shortly after the Government announced that it intends to double power generation in the next decade This will increase the share of renewable energy to 20% in an effort to reduce dependence on coal-fired thermal power At the end of 2019, the Prime Minister approved the outline of the 18th National Energy Development Plan This plan is expected to be completed by the end of 2021 for the period 2021– 2030, with a vision to 2045 Developing and attracting investment in renewable energy are identified as two of the key priorities in this Master Plan In addition to drafting the National Energy Development Plan, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has also submitted to the Prime Minister Report No 544/ TTr-BCT dated January 21, 2020, on the issuance of a pilot project on the direct renewable electricity trading mechanism This pilot program will allow electricity producers to sell and supply electricity to corporate customers rather than through a state-owned utility Despite some criticism about the limited scope of this Pilot Program, the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade is positive progress in the development of renewable energy in Vietnam This shows that Vietnam is willing to develop solar energy and to deploy support mechanisms to retain investors interested in the renewable energy industry Conclusions and recommendations Development in renewable energy as the main source of electricity production in the near future is becoming increasingly important in most countries around the world taking in mind the goal of combating global climate change and GHG reductions bound by the Paris Agreement COP 21 Renewable energy is at the heart of the transition to a more sustainable and less carbon-intensive energy system However, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and tidal waves all rely on intermittent resources depending on factors such as climate, weather, and construction sites Therefore, the integration of these resources in the current electrical system (power grid) faces considerable challenges To ensure the reliability and stability of the power supply, it is necessary to supplement the power source reserve system with multi-billion-dollar investment costs With a wide range of potential in terms of renewable energy resources, Vietnam, as a country, enjoys an abundant ability in exploiting these resources in the production of renewable energy, such as hydropower, wind power, solar power, biomass, geothermal, biofuels To encourage the development of renewable energy, some of the following solutions (Nguyen, 2020), maybe not enough, but will contribute to overcome the “bottlenecks” and create conditions for the development of renewable energy sources quickly and sustainably (Pham, 2020): ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 11 Firstly, synchronize the strategy and planning of the whole energy industry and each energy subsector into a unified, synchronous, and closely organic system from strategy to planning, in which electricity planning is central to ensure energy security The existence of the strategic framework is to ensure reliability, balance, harmony, and efficiency according to the potential of energy resources and the contextual socio-economic situation Secondly, the government should conduct an investigation and assessment of wind and solar power potentials for the whole country to reach the technical and economic capacity to serve the mobilization of wind power and solar power planning following requirements and objectives of electricity planning in each period Thirdly, policies, and laws on the investment in building wind and solar power, which are attractive enough, but must ensure stability Fourthly, national standards and regulations on renewable energy technologies and equipment are needed to be clearly formulated In addition, strategic cooperation with international partners in research and transfer of state-of-the-art technologies in solar and wind energy should be strengthened In closing, the article highlights the renewable energy development strategies in Vietnam until 2030 and the vision to 2045 More importantly, many key recommendations should be prioritized for an early settlement to ensure Vietnam’s national energy security and sustainable energy development in the short and medium term With the huge potential already confirmed in this work, the development of renewable energy is a strategic step to solve the problem of sustainable energy development for Vietnam, on which it is necessary to have the companionship of the Government, ministries, sectors and businesses, domestic and foreign investors ORCID Van Viet Pham http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4996-3732 Anh Tuan Hoang http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1767-8040 References Alidrisi, H., and A Demirbas 2016 Enhanced electricity generation using biomass materials Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 38 (10):1419–27 doi:10.1080/15567036.2014.948647 Chang, Y., Z Fang, and Y Li 2016 Renewable energy policies in promoting financing and investment among the East Asia Summit countries: Quantitative assessment and policy implications Energy Policy 95:427–36 doi:10.1016/j enpol.2016.02.017 Chapman, A., Urmee, T., Shem, C., & Fuentes, U 2020 Energy Transition to Renewable Energies: Opportunities for Australian cooperation with Vietnam Energy Transition Hub Perth, Australia Chau, M Q., A T Hoang, T T Truong, and X P Nguyen 2020 Endless story about the alarming reality of plastic waste in Vietnam Energy 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