HCM City hosts Vietnam Technology and Energy Forum 2019

A general view of the forum

Currently, using renewable energy sources in parallel with enhancing energy efficiency in production in order to reduce costs and minimise negative impacts on the environment is emerging as a pressing issue. With its geographical and climatic conditions, Vietnam is assessed as a country with huge potential to develop renewable energy sources that are capable of replacing fossil energy sources and minimising environmental impacts.

According to a World Bank report, Vietnam is one of the 14 countries in the world with the greatest hydropower potential. Currently, Vietnam has more than 120,000 hydropower stations, with a combined capacity of roughly 300 MW. In addition, Vietnam has a great potential for wind power, estimated at over 513,000 MW, due to its long coastline. With respect to solar energy, being among the countries with the most hours of sun in the year on the map of global solar radiation, Vietnam has many advantages in exploiting this energy source. In fact, over the last two years, Vietnam has been witnessing a booming development in the field of solar energy, with increasingly practical support from the state.

Therefore, within the framework of the forum, a workshop on the systems of policies and development plans for Vietnam’s energy sector was held aiming to provide management agencies, research organisations and the business community with a general view on Vietnam’s renewable energy policies and Vietnam’s energy outlook, as well as introducing the Republic of Korean government’s experience in developing policies to encourage and support the renewable energy industry over recent years.

Addressing the forum, Tran Thi Hong Lan, Deputy Director of the MOST’s Department of Technology Application and Development, said that the department has cooperated with many foreign organisations and enterprises to promote technology transfer activities from abroad into Vietnam. A number of new and advanced foreign technologies have been successfully transferred to Vietnamese organisations and businesses, thus contributing to improving the technological capabilities and production efficiency for Vietnamese firms.

This year's forum aimed to convey multidimensional information, from the policy building experience in advanced countries such as the RoK and opinions of businesses on policies and technology to the typical technologies successfully researched and developed in the country, as well as foreign technologies ready to be transferred into Vietnam.

The event also looked to strengthen exchanges and cohesion between government bodies of Vietnam and the RoK in the field of energy, while offering a platform to exchange information and seek opportunities for investment cooperation and technology transfer between big enterprises of the two countries, as well as between the RoK’s large groups and Vietnamese departments, branches and provinces.