(VNF) - A clean energy conference themed “Smart solutions for Vietnam” was held in Ho Chi Minh city on May 14th with the participation of over 150 government officials, business leaders, investors and experts from Vietnam and US.

The conference, co-organized by the Ho Chi Minh city-based US Consulate General, Vietnam Investment Review (VIR) and sponsored by General Electric (GE), created an open dialogue for participants to discuss challenges, benefits and solutions in pursuing green energy sustainability in the nation.

In September 2012, the Prime Minister approved the National Green Growth Strategy, which established targets from 2011-2020, to reduce greenhouse gas emission levels by 8-10 percent compared to the 2010 level, and to reduce energy consumption per GDP unit by 1-1.5 percent per year.

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen The Phuong, Deputy Minister of Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said: “Vietnam, as a responsible country among the international community, always strives to contribute to the world's steady growth and takes a leadership in sustainable development.

Searching for smart solutions to promote green energy sustainability is also a key content of Vietnam's National Green Growth Strategy, which has been implementing for years. Lessons learnt, experiences, suggestions as well as recommendations at the conference will be useful references for government agencies in general and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in particular in the construction and improvement process for policies to promote the development of renewable and clean energy”.

“We have developed an extensive and growing partnership in recent years to bring clean, renewable energy to the market to meet Vietnam’s growing demand for sustainable power. Today’s conference is the latest example of the growing cooperation between our two countries in the area of clean energy development.” added Patrick Wall, Principal Commercial Official, US Consulate General.

The conference focused the discussion on challenges for clean energy development in Vietnam and opportunities for investors in this area. These are hot issues in the context that the energy demand is growing rapidly to meet the country’s fast and sustainable socio-economic development.

Representatives offered their ideas on how Vietnam could improve its policy to encourage the development of renewable energy, to increase sustainable economic, social and environmental development.

As the sponsor for the event, GE also shared their innovative technologies and solutions for wind power as well as distributed power, including biomass and waste-to-energy. The company has built a good reputation in Vietnam’s renewable energy sector, most notably in wind power, and it has also provided technological support to other renewable energy and power generation projects in the country.

GE provided in total 62 wind turbines for two phases of the Bac Lieu wind power project in the Mekong Delta, and recently was chosen as the provider of 14 turbines in Phase I of the Tay Nguyen wind farm project, located in Dak Lak province. In 2013, GE and the Electricity Regulatory of Vietnam (ERAV) also signed an agreement for a “renewable energy integration study” aimed at developing wind power as a reliable energy source into the national grid.

The conference has also received positive responses from Vietnamese government officials, U.S. governmental agencies, local project developers and potential investors. The US industry can leverage advanced technologies, expertise and financing strategies, to develop cleaner energy including biomass, solar, wind, geothermal, clean coal, natural gas, energy efficiency and smart grid in Vietnam./.

Vietnam is endowed with excellent renewable energy resources throughout the country. The geographic orientation with approximately 3,400km of coastline provides abundant wind energy at an estimated potential of 500-1000 kWh/m2 per year. Solar energy is abundant with average solar radiation at 5kWh/m2 per day across the country. Moreover, the technical potential of small hydropower (<30MW) is larger than 4,000MW.

( VNF )