Book Description

This dissertation proposes ways for transitioning to sustainable electricity development Vietnam. The concept is created through the integration of interconnectedness between the five pillars which contribute to the low carbon development of a country, including: energy use, low carbon technologies, renewable and clean energies, institutional structure, and socio-environmental issues. The main research question in this study is: How to take advantage of available and suitable options in the electricity sector which could significantly contribute to the low carbon economy of Vietnam and their main constraints and possibilities? We examine and simulate green options for the sector up to 2040: increase energy efficiency (imported fuel based power capacity reduces from 60 percent to 39 percent of the total power capacity; lower investment in new capacity; lower local pollution costs; lower C02 emissions; and lower expenditures on imported fuels), more electricity generation from biomass (a reduction of 3 percent of total C02 emissions by full development of bio-electricity during 2015 - 2040), promote carbon capture & storage technologie (the most important factors : financial incentives and climate policy; a new coal power plant can get more economic benefits if it integrates capture readiness systems (CR) from the beginning), make institutional change, and internalize external costs in the power sector. With greener scenarios simulated by the energ modeling tool LEAP (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning), this study suggests that the evolution of Vietnam's electricity sector would be toward to a low carbon future in decades to come.