Vietnam province scraps coal plant over environmental concerns

The Mekong Delta’s Bac Lieu Province scrapped plans for a coal-fired thermal power plant to pursue clean-energy options, last week.

The provincial government has requested permission to withdraw from the project to build wind turbines. Bac Lieu is currently home to one of Vietnam’s three wind power plants, the other two are located in Binh Thuan Province just north of the tourist town Mui Ne.

Vietnam needs clearer windpower laws: experts

These were among the petitions related to administrative procedures that were raised at a validation workshop held in HCM City last week.

The aim of the workshop was to create more opportunities for further wind power.

The Validation Workshop on “Wind Power Investment Guidelines” was co-hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Inter-nationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Vietnam and the General Directorate of Energy (GDE) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) in Vietnam.

Aurelien Agut, a GIZ consultant, said that interest to invest in small wind turbines was strong, but there were no clear regulations on the import of small turbines as well as on relevant procedures.