Mr. Pham Nguyen Hung
Reporter: Could you introduce the potential of garbage that can be used for power generation in Vietnam and its practical benefits?
Mr. Pham Nguyen Hung: According to the latest report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in Vietnam, each day there are averagely about 35,000 tons of urban domestic garbage and 34,000 tons of rural domestic garbage. This amount of garbage is not being used and processed into energy for life. About 85% of the garbage in Vietnam is handled mainly by landfill technology, which consumes a lot of land, of which 80% is unhygienic landfills, potentially causing environmental pollution and not yet take advantage of energy efficiency. The transportation of garbage still faces many difficulties. Meanwhile, the fee for environmental sanitation from households is currently partially paid for garbage collection, not sufficient to pay for the transportation, etc.
With the above amount of garbage, the potential for garbage to be turned into electricity in Vietnam is huge and the conversion of garbage to energy is increasing and will be in line with the world's general needs. The conversion of solid garbage into energy will contribute to the realization of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals such as clean and affordable energy, appropriate work, economic growth, and construction of sustainable cities and communities.
Reporter: Why is PECC1 pioneering in research and design of power plants from garbage but not other energy sources, sir?
Mr. Pham Nguyen Hung: Currently in the world, solid garbage incineration technology is increasingly being applied widely thanks to some outstanding advantages compared to other technologies such as 90-95% reduction in volume and volume. garbage, utilizing heat, saving land area compared to landfill, reducing water and air pollution, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and so on.
Grasping the development trend as well as the needs of customers, PECC1 has pioneered research and provided the best technical services to customers in the field of garbage electricity. In addition, the technology of the garbage power projects is basically the same as the thermal power plants that PECC1 previously conducted FS report preparation, technical design, etc., so this is an advantage of PECC1.
The development orientation of PECC1 is implemented under the motto: “Investing in sustainable development towards professionalization, diversification and modernization of electrical construction consulting services and other potential economic and technical services for the sake of the country, customers, shareholders and employees in the Company”. Accordingly, garbage power in the new energy sector is one of the development directions of PECC1, along with hydropower, thermal power, power lines, transformer stations and new energy.
Reporter: The construction of power plants from garbage brings many benefits, but the gathering of garbage at plants located near residential areas can cause environmental pollution. Therefore, some localities are not enthusiastic in support. PECC1 has any solution to solve this problem?
Ông Phạm Nguyên Hùng: In fact, in the garbage power projects established by PECC1, domestic garbage will be collected and transported to the plant by the environmental sanitation agency; Inside these plants, there are garbage tanks (garbage cans) that can store garbage for about 8-10 days. In addition, the garbage tanks are designed to be self-contained, has the function of anti-leakage, anti-corrosion function, preventing internal bad odors from coming out and being maintained at a state of negative pressure.
The process of burning garbage in the combustion chamber will generate environmental pollutants, mainly dust, acids, dioxins, heavy metals, etc. These components will, following the smoke, pollute and affect the living environment. Therefore, it is imperative that we shall design the smoke treatment system before releasing it into the environment.
Reporter: In the process of implementing projects, what difficulties did the company encounter and what proposals did the company have to relevant ministries, branches and localities?
Mr. Pham Nguyen Hung: During the implementation of garbage power projects, we have noticed the following problems:
To build a power plant from garbage, along with modern technology, requires a large investment. In addition, businesses still face many barriers on pricing policies, even though capital and technology are ready. According to Decision No. 31/2014/QD-TTg dated 5/5/2014 of the Prime Minister on the mechanism to support the development of power generation projects from solid garbage in Vietnam, there is a mechanism to support the purchase price power, but these projects must be included in the Power Sector Development Plan. This makes power generation projects from garbage encounter difficulties because they have to wait for the general Plan of the power sector.
Also related to the purchase price of electricity from garbage power projects, the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the new electricity purchase price is only applicable to power generation projects directly from solid waste and projects of power generation from recovered gas in garbage landfills. Currently, there are many new technologies in the garbage power sector such as gasification, heat recovery, biogas fermentation, ... but the electricity purchase prices have not been issued.
Meanwhile, businesses that want to invest in garbage treatment for power generation encounter many complicated and prolonged administrative procedures. For the investment in the treatment of domestic solid waste in the form of a public-private partnership (PPP), the necessary investment procedures for selecting investors takes 1-2 years, then other procedures such as design appraisal, approval of fire-prevention and fighting solutions, environmental impact assessment reports and environmental protection solutions, and so on.
To remove difficulties for businesses, the Government should direct the review and amendment of legal documents, processes and procedures facing problems between the current regulations on construction investment management in the field of urban domestic garbage management (PPP law, regulations on development of garbage power projects, planning work, etc.), at the same time, specifying the investment incentives. Once there are mechanisms in place, it is necessary to simplify administrative procedures, create favourable conditions for businesses to invest in solid waste treatment, and soon form an environmental industry sector in Vietnam.
Reporter: Thank you!