With 20 years of experience in renewables, Stuart Livesey from EuroCham said he understands foreign investors’ views about the opportunities and barriers in the Vietnamese clean energy market.

Vietnam has abundant renewable energy resources to develop wind and solar power. The demand for clean power not only comes from businesses, but also the government. The government has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050.

“Vietnam is considered a country with great potential for renewable power exports. Vietnam can also export infrastructure to regional countries so they can produce renewable power themselves,” he said.

The Vietnamese clean power market has opened up a great opportunity for foreign investors. In addition to investors who have deployed projects in Vietnam, or those who have plans to develop clean power projects, more new investors are expected to enter the Vietnamese market in the time to come.

As a foreign investor, he believes that Vietnam is attractive ro investors, especially in supply chains.

He said he is developing an offshore wind power project in Vietnam which uses the entire supply chain in Vietnam, and said he hopes that more projects will be implemented in Vietnam.

However, he pointed out that there are still great challenges in investing in the clean power sector in Vietnam.

For example, renewable energy capacity is uneven and sometimes goes beyond the capacity it can handle. Also, the disconnection among electricity networks may hinder the development of renewable energy projects.

“The challenge about electricity networks is really high. Many foreign investors allocate their big resources to projects, but it is highly possible that their electricity output cannot be used up,” he explained. “Therefore, the policies on power storing are extremely important."

Another challenge the expert mentioned is changeable policies. "Vietnam needs to ensure the stability of policies so that investors can make their business plans when making heavy investments,” he said. “The short-term strategies and commitments must be transparent. Short-term strategies can help promote long-term development in Vietnam."

Foreign investors need to be informed of the benefits they can expect when joining the Vietnamese market. One of the supports the government of Vietnam should provide to investors is a transparent roadmap of the market, so that investors can realize their energy projects.

Noting that some rooftop solar power systems cannot sell excessive power to the national grid, Livesey said Vietnam needs to apply a reasonable offtake scheme to help investors ensure their profits.

Experience for Vietnam

“Im the past towards green energy transition, we will have to learn every day. I met many government officials and found that it is difficult for them to set up legal frameworks and regulations. However, foreign renewable power investors can help the government of Vietnam to consider the stories of other markets. We can also share success stories in other markets from which Vietnam can learn lessons,” he said.

The expert mentioned Taiwan as a success story in renewable power development. Its offshore wind energy policy was launched in 2020. The Taiwan’s model can be applied to many business fields, not just in wind power development. Meanwhile, Vietnam can skip the stage of technology trial because many technologies are ready and Vietnam can to straight to the second phase of development.

The participation of the government and local authorities will be very useful for project implementation. Taiwan has been doing this well as its ministers of relevant fields must participate in the green energy transition process.

New technologies and techniques will be introduced in Vietnam in the time to come. New projects using new technologies will need higher investment rate. As for wind power projects, investors will be able to cut costs if they can get the support from the government in the first phase of development.

Technologies will change, and so will be supply chains. Therefore, policies and regulations need to be flexible, according to the expert. There are many lessons from many countries for Vietnam to learn and what it needs to do is moving ahead.

Binh Minh