Vietnam

Vietnam, with an abundance of natural endowments, has created opportunities and access to a sustainable way of energy development. Notably, Vietnam has adopted a National Green Growth Strategy in 2014, which consists of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy intensity, improving environmental performance of industry and developing green sectors, and promoting sustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns in a context of increasing urbanism. 

 

In 2020, Vietnam ranked 34th out of 40 economies in a global ranking of attractiveness in terms of renewable energy investment. Considering Vietnam’s geographical location for exploiting wind and solar power (3,000 km of coastline with consistent wind range, up to 5 kW-hour per square meter for solar), it is more sensible when the focus shift to renewable energy. Remarkably, market data and reviews have shown that capital cost of solar and wind over the past five years has dropped significantly, making the LCOE for renewables cheaper. Therefore, this has led to opportunities of green power projects with experienced international developers, such as Denmark.

 

Beside the economic growth and rapid urbanization, climate change is another factor causing challenges in water supply, wastewater treatment management and flood control in Vietnam due extensive coastline and river deltas. In order to be more climate resilient Vietnam is shifting the focus to projects with energy efficiency and ecological features. Investing in infrastructure is playing a key role in the country’s development plans. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Vietnam is among the biggest infrastructure spenders in Southeast Asia. New projects in express ways, bridges, metro system and airports are very high on the government’s agenda.