Vietnam Eyes Huge Wind and Solar Farms to End Coal Use by 2050 – EQ
In Short : Vietnam plans to eliminate coal power by 2050 through massive investments in wind, solar, and nuclear energy. Targeting 839 GW total capacity, with 66% from renewables, the country aims to meet rising energy demands sustainably. Offshore wind and solar will lead the shift, while old coal plants will be phased out, marking a major clean energy transition in Southeast Asia.
In Detail : Vietnam’s government has approved a revised energy policy that calls for massive increases in wind and solar capacity as it seeks to keep pace with growing power demand while ending the use of coal by 2050.
The latest amendments to the Power Development Plan VIII, approved by the government earlier this week, call for the nation to more than double its total generating ability by 2030 from 2023 levels, with the aim of increasing capacity nearly 10-fold by 2050. Officials expect power demand to soar as they aim for economic growth of at least 8% this year and double-digits through the end of the decade.
The clean energy targets far outstrip what analysts expect the country to be able to achieve. The roadmap calls for as much as 73 gigawatts of solar and 38 gigawatts of wind by 2030 — but BloombergNEF forecasts that the country will have about 32 gigawatts of solar and 12 gigawatts of wind by then. By 2050, Vietnam is targeting as much as 230 gigawatts of wind and 296 gigawatts of solar.
“The plan can deliver clean energy security for Vietnam,” said John Rockhold, head of the Vietnam Business Forum’s Power and Energy Working Group. “The government has the laws and decrees in place. The question now is can the energy developers and investors — both state-owned and private — deliver within the timetables.”
Vietnam’s power sector currently relies on coal for nearly half its generation, but wants to turn away from the fuel. In 2022, it signed a multi-billion agreement with the US and other governments and banks to expedite that process. Vietnam’s energy roadmap now calls for construction of a handful of new coal power plants through the end of the decade before switching them to burn biofuels or ammonia by 2050.
Natural gas may get a boost in the near term, with capacity expected to increase more than five-fold by 2030, powered mostly by imported liquefied cargoes. The pipeline for those power projects is well behind schedule, according to BloombergNEF. The plan also calls for the country to bring online its first nuclear power plants between 2030 and 2035.
Vietnam hopes to piggyback on a recent string of cross-border power deals in Southeast Asia, with the aim of exporting electricity to Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore.
