With a great potential of renewable energy resources, Binh Duong has made efforts to develop these energy sources to meet the increasing electricity demand, create benefits for people and businesses.
Binh Duong holds a seminar on renewable energy development in the area.
To meet demands
According to Ministry of Industry and Trade's forecast, the electricity demand for economic development from 2021 onwards would continue growing at a high rate, from 8-10%/year. Meanwhile, the domestic primary energy source is limited, leading to the dependence on imported fuels, which are currently coal and gas, and will be liquefied gas soon. Besides, the impacts of climate change lead to drought, deficiency of water in reservoirs; some thermal power projects are behind schedule, putting enormous pressure to the power supply.
In Binh Duong, the electricity source for production accounts to up to more than 70% of total energy consumption of the province. With the current pace of socio-economic growth, according to the Southern Electricity Corporation's assessment, the energy supply to meet socio-economic development demand would face many challenges. Therefore, the strategy of gradually diversifying energy sources, including solar power, is considered one of the sustainable development solutions.
Binh Duong has a favorable geographical location, solar potential is considered to be good compared to the national average. The number of sunshine hours in a year in the province is from 2,200 - 2,800 hours, with an average solar radiation of about 4.5 kWh / m2 / day. According to provincial Department of Industry and Trade's assessment, solar power has huge potential in Binh Duong, especially in urban areas with existing infrastructure. Along with the building a smart city, solar power will be the optimal source of energy in the present conditions, if we evaluate the level of environmental pollution, its benefits, as well as the demand for sustainable development in Binh Duong.
To attract investment
Along with the Government's policies, the provincial leadership has also encouraged investors to participate in researching solar power projects on the basis of ensuring socio-economic and security benefits of the area.
According to Department of Industry and Trade, there are also challenges as developing this energy source. For large projects (several hundred MWp), apart from finding competent investors, the most difficult problem is the safe and efficient operation of electricity systems when the capacity of solar power is large. Solar radiation often changes during the day due to sudden changes in weather (clouds, rain, dust...), resulting in a variation of the generating capacity, making it difficult to regulate and operate the entire electricity system.
The rapid development of renewable energy resources in the past few years has faced some limitations. For example, the transmission grid infrastructure did not keep up with the progress of renewable energy projects, hence grid size in some localities did not fully discharge 100% of capacity at certain times. For rooftop solar source, although it is very potential and easy to do, it has not reached the expected results, because its initial investment cost is still high, and does not has the support from financial institutions. The markets for solar power products and services are quite diverse but there is no specific technical standard for quality and safety. Recently, more licensing procedures of construction industry have been created, causing difficulties to people and businesses wishing to invest.
In order to achieve the set goals, it is necessary to continue creating a favorable environment, removing difficulties arising in the implementation process; completing the legal framework, especially the upcoming mechanisms and policies, such as the mechanism of electricity purchase and sale prices, socialization of transmission grids, project bidding for grid-connected projects; revising restrictions on the number of megawatts of roof solar power accordingly. In the coming time, Department of Industry and Trade will advise Provincial People's Committee to enhance communication about the benefits and organize thematic seminars on solar power. In addition, the department will create favorable conditions for investors to research, explore and invest in solar power projects on the ground, floating solar power, especially rooftop solar power projects in the province.
Reported by Tieu My - Translated by Ngoc Huynh
