THE nation will not develop new coal power plants after 2030, according to a long-delayed national power plan published Tuesday, although the blueprint drew criticism that the transition to renewables is too slow.
The South-East Asian country committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the COP26 climate summit in 2021.
The US$135bil (RM607bil) plan for its energy policy until 2030, mapping how it will reach those targets, was delayed for more than two years, with more than one earlier draft pointing to renewed investment in coal.
According to the new plan, known as Power Development Plan 8, “by 2030, only coal power projects that have already been approved and those under construction can proceed”.
Coal will represent 20% of Vietnam’s energy mix by the end of the decade, down from 50% currently, the plan says.
Researcher Andri Prasetiyo of Trend Asia said the decision to move forward with coal power projects until 2030 would “significantly increase the country’s coal power capacity, hindering the development of renewable energy sources”.
He said the prioritising of gas as an intermediate step towards renewables was “disappointing”.
Domestic gas will account for 9.9% of the country’s energy by 2030.
The power development plan, approved by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Monday, pledges that coal will no longer be used for electricity production by 2050.
There will be a “shift to zero-emission fuels such as biomass, or ammonia”, it says.
However, Prasetiyo said this switch would require substantial funds for repurposing existing fossil fuel power generation and warned that ammonia was “not a realistic and viable alternative”.
Vietnam has the world’s third-largest pipeline of new coal power projects after India and China.
The power development plan outlines a target for 50 % of office and residential buildings to use self-produced solar power by 2030. — AFP
