PRESS RELEASE
Smart Grid Week Viet Nam 2019:
A multi-stakeholder event on digitalization and flexibility of the power system for an increased integration of renewable energies
2 December 2019 – The Smart Grid Week Viet Nam 2019 opens today in Hanoi with a series of conferences and workshops for government officials, national and international professionals and partners as well as associations. The Week which lasts until December 5 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.
The Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Viet Nam host the Week. 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).
The participants are 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 academia organisations. The Week’s speakers are nearly 20 representatives from government agencies, national and international companies and research institutions.
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan – ERAV’s Director General – 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 smart grid is a 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 organise and monitor the implementation to achieve smart grid development targets approved by the Prime Minister in the upcoming period.”
Mr. Sebastian Paust – Head of Cooperation of the German Embassy in Viet Nam – also affirmed that “Viet Nam showed an 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 have to 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 about international experience in measures and solutions to also support higher shares of solar and wind energy in Viet Nam.”
After the official opening day, the second-day of the Smart Grid Week, titled “Power System Innovation Day” will focus on emerging power system technology solutions for a modern and sustainable future power system. The day will focus on two main topics: (1) Operating a power system with high shares of renewable energy and (2) Smart Energy Solutions: Innovations and concepts for the Energy System of the Future.
On December 4, different seminars will be organised for knowledge exchange between power system experts and academia. The “Smart Grid Symposium Vietnam” day will have in-depth discussions and collect valuable inputs from experts on the topics of (1) Flexibility options for high shares of RE; (2) The impact of Renewable Energy on the power system and (3) Enabling a Smart Grid with regulative frameworks.
Named “Future Lab: Internet of Energy”, the last day will open discussion forums about vision for the power system of the future. The participants will jointly identify the challenges of the Vietnamese energy system in the future and discuss how these hurdles can be overcome by the presented solutions of information and communication technologies (ICT).
In his closing remarks, 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 programme 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 stakeholder from the public and private sector and push the topic further on the political agenda.”
As one of the most dynamically growing economies in Asia, Viet Nam faces an enormous increase in energy demand that will continue to grow at a double-digit rate in the coming years. Although there are constant investments in generation and grid infrastructure, reliability and security of electricity supply remain substantial challenges for the Vietnamese power system, especially in the period of 2021-2025, which may cause supply-demand risks.
Recognizing the great benefit in upgrading the national power transmission system, the Government of Viet Nam signed Decision No. 1670 / QD-TTg on November 8, 2012, approving a strategy on developing Smart Grid in Viet Nam (in short: Smart Grid Road Map). The Road Map aims to improve the quality and reliability of the national power supply and to improve the efficient use of electricity.
To support the Road Map, ERAV and GIZ have implemented the SGREEE project since 2017. Under the project, the “Smart Grid Viet Nam Knowledge Hub” http://smart-grid.vn/ was created as the country’s first public platform to share concepts, solutions, experience, development progress and official documents related to smart grid applications in the country. A closed Facebook group called “Smart Grid Viet Nam Network” was set up for national and international experts to discuss and share their professional experience about smart grid solutions, its applications and trends in the country and worldwide.
