Bến Tre to boost new, renewable energy development

The Wind Power Plant No 5 in Bến Tre Province’s Thạnh Phú District. — VNA/VNS Photo Hồng Đạt

BẾN TRE — Developing wind power projects will be one of the driving forces for Bến Tre Province’s socio-economic development, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Hoà Bình said at a seminar held in the province on Wednesday (October 2).

The seminar, called “New energy and renewable energy potential and investment”, was organised within the framework of the 2024 Bến Tre Province Investment Promotion Conference themed "Bến Tre - Eastern vision and potential for sustainable development," being held from October 2 to 3.

It attracted many leading domestic and foreign experts, researchers and leaders to discuss and share experiences on technological and financial solutions for green hydrogen production from solar and wind power, as well as evaluate technology and equipment options for green hydrogen and ammonia production.

It also called on and committed to effectively use the support of international organisations, green credits, green bonds and solutions to develop planned hydrogen production projects in the province.

Deputy PM Nguyễn Hoà Bình highly valued the province's initiative to organise the seminar on developing green and sustainable energy, which aligns with the global trend and is a major policy of the Party.

Việt Nam is one of the countries that has favourable geographic and climatic conditions for renewable energy production.

In the next five years, the country needs to develop an amount of electricity that is nearly equal to the amount accumulated over the past decades.

“This brings significant challenges but also opens great opportunities for investors,” he said.

The country has great potential to develop renewable energy such as solar power plants, and onshore and offshore wind power plants, he said.

Experts at the seminar’s panel discussion on new energy and renewable energy potential and investment held in Bến Tre Province on October 2. — VNS Photo Nguyễn Diệp

In order to achieve clean and renewable energy development goals, it is necessary to create a favourable investment environment, remove barriers to attract investment, encourage private investment, and perfect incentives and special mechanisms and policies, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thị Thắng said.

The province needs to implement flexible and effective credit policies, and create favourable conditions for businesses to access capital sources, especially businesses with green energy projects.

“It is necessary to offer businesses in the energy sector incentives to encourage their investment in research and development,” she said

The focus is on the research and manufacturing of energy equipment, and the application of new and renewable energy.

It also needs to promote cooperation with developed countries and international organisations, call for investment, develop support policies for investors, and access and transfer new and modern technologies in research, application, production and use of clean and renewable energy.

Jean Gourp, president Asia Pacific at John Cockerill, said electrolytic Hydrogen projects are getting larger.

The choice of technology will have an impact on the large-scale worldwide supply of electrolysers, he said.

“Large-scale and high-performance manufacturing are needed to meet demand and enable electrolyser cost reduction,” he said.

The massive development of decarbonated hydrogen in the world will be made possible with technology that can cope with intermittent power; be deployed with access to sustainable and safe materials; large-scale solutions such as stacks, mutualised equipment and integrated E&C; and high-performance large-scale electrolyser manufacturing and maintenance bases in hydrogen production areas with renewable power.

With a coastline of more than 65km, the province has huge potential to develop new and renewable energy projects such as wind power and solar power to produce green hydrogen, which is considered a sustainable technological solution but requires a long time and large capital to develop the market, the Bến Tre Province’s People's Committee chairman Trần Ngọc Tam said.

Hydrogen has been identified as a potential solution for decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, he said.

“Clean hydrogen can play a paramount role to achieve net-zero targets by 2050,” he said.

Bến Tre has been approved to develop 19 wind power projects with a total capacity of more than 1,000MW, and has completed basic infrastructure of nine projects with a total capacity of about 365MW.

The province’s People's Committee has submitted to the Prime Minister a proposal to implement the Bến Tre Green Hydrogen Complex project as a pilot project for the hydrogen production industry in Việt Nam, along with self-production and self-consumption solar and wind power projects to provide input energy for this complex.

By 2030, the province strives to develop renewable energy sources, reaching about 1,100MW of onshore wind power, 1,000MW of offshore wind power, 10MW of biomass power, 18MW of electricity generated from waste, and 17MW of rooftop solar power.