Economic Potential of Renewable Energy in Vietnam's Power Sector

Nhan Thanh Nguyen (1) , Minh Ha-Duong (1)

1 CIRED - centre international de recherche sur l'environnement et le développement

A bottom-up Integrated Resource Planning model is used to examine the economic potential of renewable energy in Vietnam's power sector. In a baseline scenario without renewables, coal provides 44% of electricity generated from 2010 to 2030. The use of renewables could reduce that figure to 39%, as well as decrease the sector's cumulative emission of CO2 by 8%, SO2 by 3%, and NOX by 4%. In addition, renewables could avoid installing 4.4 GW in fossil fuel generating capacity, conserve domestic coal, decrease coal and gases imports, improving energy independence and security. Wind could become cost-competitive assuming high but plausible on fossil fuel prices, if the cost of the technology falls to 900 US$/kW.

Mots clés: integrated resource planning; renewable energy; electricity generation

Domaines: Economies et finances; Energie électrique

Nhan Thanh Nguyen, Minh Ha-Duong. Economic Potential of Renewable Energy in Vietnam's Power Sector. Energy Policy, 2009, 37, pp.1601-1613. ⟨10.1016/j.enpol.2008.12.026⟩. ⟨halshs-00431250⟩