Attending the forum were Mr. Ibnu Hadi - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia in Vietnam, representatives from the Petroleum and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade), Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. From Vietnam Electricity, there was Mr. Dinh Quang Tri – Vice President.
Currently, to ensure energy security, countries have been promoting diversification of energy sources, increasing exploitation of new and renewable sources, however, primary sources including coal still play a very important role.
For Vietnam, in the present and upcoming years, in order to secure electricity supply for socio-economic development, coal is still a major energy source for electricity generation. According to the current balance of coal supply and demand, it is forecasted that Vietnam's demand for coal consumption is increasing, especially coal for electricity generation.
Forum "Potentials in coal trading between Indonesia - Vietnam" took place in the morning of May 3, in Hanoi
Mr. Lam Thien Hoan - representative of the Petroleum and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) said: With such a large demand for coal, Vietnam's domestic coal supply capacity will not be sufficient. It is projected that Vietnam's coal import volume will reach 40 million tons by 2020 (of which 24 million tons for electricity generation), about 66 million tons by 2025 (about 49 million tons for electricity generation) and about 98 million tons by 2030 (about 80 million tons for electricity generation).
In fact, in recent years, Vietnam has imported tens of millions of tons of coal to serve domestic demand, of which imported coal from Indonesia has accounted for a large proportion (about 45 - 50% of the total annual coal import volume).
According to Mr. Dinh Quang Tri – EVN’s Vice President: Currently, coal fired thermal power represents about 38% of the generation mix in Vietnam and contributes to 41% of electricity output of the whole system. Meanwhile, Vietnam's hydropower resources have been fully exploited, gas supply for electricity generation has declined. Deriving from a large coal demand for electricity generation, EVN has been actively seeking coal resources from many countries such as South Africa, Australia, and preferably Indonesia.
In addition to guaranteed and competitive price coal resources, Indonesia has a great advantage in price thanks to its favorable geographical location which is very close to coal-fired power plants in the South of Vietnam. Along with that, the governments of the two countries have signed a strategic partnership agreement since 2013. Therefore, EVN expects Indonesian coal suppliers to provide good quality coal in a stable manner so that investors can comfortably develop coal fired thermal power plants in Vietnam.
EVN’s Vice President Dinh Quang Tri spoke at the forum
Mr. Inbnu Hadi - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia in Vietnam said that Indonesia is a country with high reserves of mineral resources, particularly the coal reserve has an annual exploitation capacity of hundreds of millions of tons and is estimated enough to last several hundred years. Indonesia desires to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam in this area.
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Estimated demand for coal consumption by industries in Vietnam:
- About 81.2 million tons in 2020 (of which about 59.5 million tons for electricity generation, accounting for 73%);
- About 110.9 million tons in 2025 (about 86 million tons for electricity generation, accounting for 77.5%);
- About 144.6 million tons in 2030 (about 119.4 million tons for electricity generation, accounting for 82.6%).
Source: Petroleum and Coal Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade)
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