December 2, 2019 – The Smart Grid Week Viet Nam 2019 officially opened today in Hanoi with the participation of more than 100 delegates from government agencies and experts from many domestic and international organizations, units related to smart grid technology.
The Week is hosted by the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Viet Nam. It is part of the Smart Grids for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SGREEE) Project, which is jointly implemented by ERAV of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and GIZ – on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Participating the Opening Ceremony are delegates from Viet Nam Smart Grid Development Steering Committee, MOIT, other ministries, Vietnam Electricity and its member companies, other energy and power sector stakeholders, local and international power system experts, private companies, international development partners, as well as research and academic organizations.
In the ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – Director General of ERAV – noted: “Viet Nam has seen significant growth of its power sector which made an important contribution to the country’s industrialization, modernization, and socio-economic development. Developing a smart grid is the right decision of Viet Nam and after nearly 7 years of implementation and step-by-step application of state-of-art technologies, the quality and reliability of the power supply have been improved. In addition, along with the general trend of clean and renewable energy development, the application of smart grid technologies is one of effective solutions to integrate and operate new and renewable energy sources stably and smoothly as well as promote the development, increase of shares and efficient use of renewable energies, thereby contributing to environmental protection, national energy security and sustainable development. In the context of many new emerging challenges, ERAV will continue to fulfill its role as a permanent body of the Smart Grids Development Steering Committee to organize and monitor the implementation to achieve smart grid development targets approved by the Prime Minister in the upcoming period.”
Mr. Sebastian Paust – Head of Development Cooperation of the German Embassy in Viet Nam – also affirmed that “Viet Nam showed impressive growth in the share of renewable energies in the electricity production this year. However, to come to higher shares of renewables, a lot of measures must be undertaken, especially to support the grid integration of solar and wind energy. In Germany, nearly half of the electricity comes from renewable sources (with 47% in the first six months of 2019), mostly from wind and solar energy. In this event, we would like to give a chance to exchange international experience in measures and solutions to also support higher shares of solar and wind energy in Viet Nam.”
Mr. Tobias Cossen – GIZ’s Project Director – said, “In order to position the topic of Smart Grids within the attention of all relevant stakeholders, including high-level government actors, it is important to have Smart Grid specific events and an exchange platform. This is the reason why ERAV and GIZ decided to implement the Smart Grid Week, to have a broad program with many inputs both from international and national experts on different aspects of Smart Grids. This is the first time, that there will be a Smart Grid specific event in Viet Nam. The Smart Grid Week will connect all relevant stakeholders from the public and private sector and push the topic further on the political agenda.”
The opening ceremony kicked off a series of events including seminars, presentations, group discussions, etc. on the topic of smart grids, which will happen over four days in Hanoi. During the event, stakeholders will discuss trends and vision for a future sustainable power system of Viet Nam, exchange knowledge and experience about smart energy solutions that enable high shares of renewable energy and energy efficiency and showcase innovative emerging technologies and applications for the power system of the future.
