HANOI, March 19 (Bloomberg): Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged banks to provide cheaper loans with longer terms to attract foreign investors to develop green power projects in the country.
Vietnamese ministries also need to sit down with wind and solar energy investors to understand their difficulties and losses in order to find a "harmonious” pricing mechanism for both buyers and sellers, Chinh said at a Hanoi conference Sunday.
Renewable energy companies on Mar. 14 sent a petition to the PM and other officials, calling on the Vietnamese government to change price policies in order to avert bankruptcy for generators and better attract investors.
Those energy-pricing policies "have deeply unnerved” investors, according to the petition, seen by Bloomberg.
Vietnam will need $368 billion through 2040 - or about 6.8% of GDP per year - for a resilient and net zero energy development path, with half of that funding coming from the private sector, according to Thomas Jacobs, IFC Country Manager in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Foreign companies urged the government to soon approve its Power Development Plan #8 to facilitate energy transition amid risks of electricity shortage, especially at some industrial parks in the north. - Bloomberg
