Government of Vietnam considers exploring country’s geothermal potential
Skyline of Hanoi, Vietnam (source: flickr/ Anders Alexander, creative commons)
Alexander Richter
15 Nov 2017
With a lack of interest so far, it now seems the government of Vietnam is considering to explore the country's geothermal potential.
At a recent conference on Geothermal Energy development in the Asia-Pacific Region in Hanoi, Vietnam, Nguyen Linh Ngoc, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) indicated an interest in exploring the country’s geothermal potential.
The conference was organised by the Vietnam Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources and the Geothermal Implementing Agreement (GIA) of the Internatioan Energy Agency (IEA).
IEA Geothermal, operating under the International Energy Agency, aims to boost international co-operation on geothermal energy production and use.
While the country’s current national energy development plan does not include geothermal energy as a possible option, renewable energy is so far not providing sufficient power. So far feasibility studies have only recently been conducted in the central provinces of Quang Binh and Quang Tri.
Energy production in the country represents about 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam, due to the dependence on fossil-fuel based power plants.
At the COP21 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, Vietnam pledged to unconditionally cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent by 2030 compared to business-as-usual (BAU) projections, or by up to 25 per cent if international support was forthcoming.
At the COP23 event in Bonn/ Germany yesterday, experts and scientists from many countries discussed direct use of geothermal power and ground-source heat pumps (GSHP), the benefits of geothermal energy and geothermal power production – and technologies for the treatment of geothermal reservoirs to enhance electricity generation.
The many socio-economic benefits of geothermal energy were also highlighted, including energy security, improved ecology and low emissions.
Source: Vietnam News
