The Seminar is part of the project "Low Emission Energy Program" funded by the US Government on a grant basis (V-LEEP Project), a research project on the possibility of integrating renewable energy sources into Vietnam's power system in the National Power Development Plan - Master Plan VIII.
Experts from the Institute of Energy (Ministry of Industry and Trade), international experts, experts from relevant partners and organizations had a lot of presentations, discussions and information exchange with the aim of effectively developing Master Plan VIII in consideration of integrating an appropriate proportion of renewable energy sources into the generation mix, at the same time securing the cost – effectiveness, stability and efficiency of the national power system.
Vietnam has been experiencing a robust socio - economic growth, resulting in a huge demand for energy in the near future. In the context that the domestic fossil energy sources are gradually exhausting, hydropower sources have been fully exploited, renewable energy development is an inevitable trend in Vietnam to diversify energy supply sources, ensure energy security, diminish dependence on imported coal and protect the environment.
In addition to the relatively abundant renewable energy potential in Vietnam, the rapid increase in the number of investment projects in this field is mainly based on the government's incentive policies for renewable energy development; technological advances leading to the significant reduction in investment cost compared to that of a few decades ago.
In addition to advantages in terms of environmental protection and sustainable development thanks to CO2 emission reduction, renewable energy development faces various challenges relating to the not – strong – enough capacity of power grids in integrating renewable energy resources and evacuating electricity generated by renewable energy, system stability as well as requirements of optimizing production costs, investment costs of power plants and transmission grids.