Vietnam Shifting Away From Coal Power Plants - Goldman Environmental Prize 2018
In this site's fourth meeting of DrawDown bookclub on microgrids, we noted the book's findings that under-developed rural areas had great potential to "leapfrog" toward renewable energy because their grids had not yet been built out, and financial interests had not yet taken too much hold. We said:
"But building microgrids in urban areas will be more obstacle-ridden. Rural areas are better for breaking ground."The winner from Asia -- the first Goldman winner from Vietnam -- worked to persuade her government to divert investment away from coal and toward renewable sources like wind and solar and biomass.
Vietnam's economy is expanding rapidly, and increased its energy demands roughly 12% per year this last decade, according to the Goldman foundation. Vietnam published in 2011 an energy development plan outlining steps to meet these increasing energy demands almost entirely from nuclear power and imported coal.
Vietnam's updated plan for 2020, announced March 2016, changed that. Here's how the Goldman foundation explains what happened:
Nguy Thi learned everything she could about coal and climate change, and worked with colleagues and officials to develop an alternate, more sustainable plan. In 2013, she collaborated with energy experts and produced a study on the opportunity to reduce the coal share of the power supply mix in favor of sustainable energy sources. The study detailed how expensive and risky coal was as a primary source of electric power, and proposed alternatives. Around the same time, several coal-related environmental disasters in Vietnam highlighted coal’s dangers and pushed the discussion about Vietnam’s energy future into the public domain. Nguy Thi organized training and communication activities in eight communities affected by the disasters. She worked with the media to publish evidence-based articles about coal and its impacts, and sat on several panels about air pollution.In her acceptance speech, Khanh Nguy Thi, mentioned the "leapfrog" potential of less-developed rural areas and countries to build out energy capture and delivery on renewable models:
The extensive media coverage and widespread public debate about coal allowed Nguy Thi and GreenID to collaborate with the Vietnamese government on a revised energy development plan. In January 2016, the government announced that it intended to review development plans for all new coal plants and affirmed Vietnam’s commitment to responsibly implement international commitments for reducing greenhouse gases.
Thank you for this wonderful honor. I am so glad to be able to share my work with you and with the world today. It is the first Goldman Prize for Vietnam. And it brings important international recognition for progress in creating sustainable energy in my country.Vietnam's revised energy development plan was only able to divert close to 30% towards renewable energy. It is a sign of hope they diverted a portion of future energy away from coal, but as wind turbines and solar capture continues to become cheaper and more efficient, they could divert even more in years to come. The video below queues to start at 1:10:20, showing Goldman foundation's presentation on how Nguy Thin made this happen, and her acceptance speech.
Vietnam's energy future is at a crossroads. Every decision and every dollar invested today will be felt in Vietnam and in our earth's climate for decades to come. I am here today because we have made true progress and slowed down the expansion of coal power in Vietnam.
We also congratulate the Vietnamese National Assembly member for its decision not to pursue nuclear power in 2016, and we highly appreciate the increase of renewable energy in the current national power development plan.
Vietnam has proven that when nonprofits, scientists, and state agencies work together, we can achieve a lot.
Today, the question for Vietnam is how we can leapfrog a twentieth century energy model based on coal and large hydropower, and take advantage of low cost and abundant renewable energy that will guarantee Vietnam's future energy independence. And safeguard our air, water, and the Earth.
In 2020, Vietnam will officially launch its newest power development plan. Our goal is to reduce coal's share in favor of clean energy for people's health...and long term sustainable development in our lovely country.
The next two years of work are critical for us, and the international community will also play an important role. Our movement calls on global governments and corporations to stop investing in coal in Vietnam and help us move away from a high carbon future. There are many good investment opportunities in renewable energy and energy efficiency in Vietnam. It is good for our country and essential for our world.
We cannot create a second Earth, so fostering an energy transition more quickly is essential for us and our children. So please support our work and spread the word!
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Further Reading:
"Coal, commonly referred to as 'black gold,' is seen as a patriotic alternative to Russian gas" in Poland, "which broke away from Soviet control three decades ago and remains deeply suspicious of its neighbor to the east. Burning coal is part of daily life." nytimes.com
Because Texas and Oaklahoma shifted some energy production away from coal toward wind-generated power, they show bigger CO2 emission reductions than all other U.S. states, former Sierra Club president Carl Pope says. offlinereport.blogspot.com
With fewer mine regulations at home, coal employment in the U.S. is up slightly since 2012, but U.S. coal is cheaper and coal exports to India, South Korea, Netherlands and Brazil have exploded. foreignpolicy.com
This work by AJ Fish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
