As the application of electric vehicles’ smart charging, behind-the-meter batteries and blockchain technology have been emerged but are promised to scale up, the ‘Future Lab’ workshop took place virtually on 23 February 2022 to analyse the smart grid-related topics and discuss opportunities for their development in Viet Nam.

The Electricity Regulatory Authority of Viet Nam (ERAV) of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH1, and the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) co-hosted the event.  

In his opening remark, Mr. Markus Bissel – Director of the Smart Grids for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SGREEE) Project – said: ‘Practical experience shows that the role of rooftop solar systems will be further strengthened when it’s combined with small-scale battery energy storage systems. Meanwhile, not out of the global trend to gradually stop producing internal combustion engine vehicles and replace with electric vehicles, Viet Nam will have big number of the vehicles hitting the road in the next five years.’  

He added, ‘There will be a need of study to take advantage of electric vehicle battery storage systems and charging infrastructure with the application of Blockchain technology to ensure the reliability of power supply. Against that background, the Future Lab workshop will create the platform for discussing and exchanging between international experts and Vietnamese experts on difficulties and international best practices solutions for a more sustainable development of Viet Nam’s power system.’ 

Speakers were prestigious experts from national and international associations, universities and companies.In the afternoon, the workshop focused on two recently emerged topics: 1) the application of electric vehicles’ smart charging and behind the meter batteries as grid services, and 2) the application of blockchain in those areas. For each of the topics, international experts delivered two presentations, describing different approaches and opinions, which included opportunities and challenges when the topics are applied in Viet Nam. 

Participants came from affiliated entities under the MOIT, the Vietnam Electricity, the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC), the Regional Load Dispatch Centers, Power Corporations, the Vietnam Energy Association (VEA), the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (VAMA), power construction consulting firms, other associations, research institutes, universities, international organisations and private companies in the field of automobile manufacturing and battery storage of electricity. Participants were divided into small discussion groups after each presentations. Using digital visual collaboration tools, they identified opportunities and challenges to put forward policy, technical and financial solutions for the application of the presented technologies in Viet Nam.

The Future Lab was part of the Smart Grids for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (SGREEE) Project, which is jointly implemented by ERAV of the MOIT, and GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).  

To support the Vietnamese Government, GIZ – on behalf of the German Government – has 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 Facebook group named “Smart Grid Viet Nam Network” https://www.facebook.com/groups/smartgridvn 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. The group now has more than 850 members. 

To download the presentations of the speakers, please follow the links below:

1. Mr. Dao Cong Quyet (VAMA)
2. Dr. Nguyen Duc Tuyen (Hanoi University of Science and Technology)
3. Dr. Shahab Qureshi
4. Ms. Erica Schandorff Arberg
5. Mr. Mark Stefen
6. Dr. Thomas Brenner

To download the final report of the Future Lab, please click here