The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between EVN and Marubeni toward reducing carbon emissions has been approved since September 2022. After that, the two corporations alternately signed the MOU by representatives of the party leaders. The memorandum was exchanged by senior leaders of the two sides at the meeting on November 24. Marubeni is the first corporation to sign an MOU with EVN focusing on decarbonization.
Mr. Tran Dinh Nhan - President and CEO of EVN (left) and Mr. Seiji Kawamura - representative of Marubeni Group exchanging signed MOU
According to EVN's President and CEO Tran Dinh Nhan, at the recent 2021 United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP26), Vietnam committed to a carbon-neutral roadmap by 2050. This goal set huge challenges for Vietnam's energy industry, especially the power sector when both ensuring energy security, providing a stable power source for socio-economic development, and at the same time, having to fulfill commitments to cut CO2 emissions and minimize environmental impacts of power generation.
EVN President and CEO Tran Dinh Nhan (front row, center) speaking at the program
According to the draft National Power Plan VIII, there is no new-build coal power plants (CPP) after 2030, but in the structure of Vietnam's power source in 2030, there are still more than 30GW of CPPs in operation and over 39GW using LNG. Therefore, in the immediate future, EVN needs a solution to reduce CO2 emissions for existing EVN’s CPPs through improving efficiency, converting to using biomass fuel sources, and researching new carbon capture and storage technologies applied in developed countries around the world to consider its applicability in Vietnam.
According to EVN's President and CEO, while Vietnam's technological, experience and financial resources are still quite limited, it is important to maximize opportunities for technology transfer, and financial support from developed countries, especially in the field of decarbonization such as Japan.
Marubeni Group’s delegation working at EVN headquarters
In the coming time, based on the signed and exchanged MOU between the two parties, EVN and Marubeni are expected to coordinate to come up with an action plan to implement specific cooperation contents, including researching on applying decarbonization technology for EVN's existing CPPs; developing new renewable energy (solar/offshore wind power, etc.) and energy projects such as biomass, hydrogen; sharing information and international experience in power market operation, etc.