Vietnam: October 2021 updates to the Draft PDP8

08 Oct 2021    2 minute read
EMI Renewable Energy Environment Change Climate Change Banking & Finance Commercial and Corporate Trade & Commerce Industrials and Manufacturing

In brief

On 3 October 2021, the Government's Appraisal Council organized a meeting to review a new draft decision that was recently proposed for submission to the prime minister for the approval of the national power development plan for the period of 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 ("Draft PDP8") and its corresponding proposal serving as an explanatory report ("New PDP8 Proposal"), as recently proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (MOIT).

Contents

This new draft was made upon the instruction of the new deputy prime minister and the Office of Government (OOG), following a review of the previous draft and of Proposal No. 1682/TTr-BCT in March 2021 ("Previous Proposal No. 1682").

The Draft PDP8 proposes an addition of about 19,266 MW to the current capacity of coal-fired plants in order to reach 40,469 MW by 2030, which will account for 31.2% of the total installed capacity. While the draft claims that power capacity ratio of coal-fired power sources will gradually decrease compared to the current status, this new draft even adds about 3,076 MW of coal (while reducing about 8 GW renewables by 2030) compared to the previous draft PDP8 proposal in March, and continues to pursue a number of coal-fired projects from the amended power development plan #7 (PDP7) (although some coal-fired projects have been removed).

Regarding gas-to-power, among the approximately 17,900 MW projects recently proposed, the Draft PDP8 only includes about 10,300 MW of gas-to-power projects to be developed by 2030, with the rest of the other projects to be deferred until after 2030 (including about 1.5 GW projects in the central region and about 6.1 GW in the south). In the northern region, other than the recent approval for about 1.5 GW, an addition of 2,250 MW gas-to-power projects was proposed for energy security reasons of the region and to minimize cross-region power transmissions.

While there are public sector concerns regarding energy security and cross-region power transmissions, the continued reliance on coal creates certain concerns for a number of private sector investors taking into account their significant interests in gas-to-power sources as a new baseload power of the country and their active use of renewable energy, private sector participation in the grid transmission investments, and energy storage to achieve energy transition.

We set out below the key highlights of the most recent official proposal of the MOIT on the Draft PDP8.

Click here to access the full alert.

Contact Information
Oanh Nguyen
Partner
Ho Chi Minh City
hoangkimoanh.nguyen@bakermckenzie.com
Thanh Hai Nguyen
Special Counsel
Hanoi
thanhhai.nguyen@bakermckenzie.com

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