There is still a lot of room for saving electricity.

Surveys by the National Program on Energy Efficiency and Conservation for the 2019-2030 period show that the potential for technical energy savings in industry and construction can reach 68%. Of which, Vietnam's industrial sectors alone account for about 50% of the country's total energy consumption, with energy savings potential of up to 20-30%. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also said that the country currently has 3,068 key energy-using facilities, with an average electricity consumption of 80 billion kWh/year. If these enterprises practice saving at least 2% of electricity consumption/year, the country will save an average of about 1.6 billion kWh per year, equivalent to saving more than 3,200 billion VND in electricity bills.

Mr. Vo Quang Lam, Deputy General Director of Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), emphasized that the use of energy economically and efficiently in the industrial sector plays an important role in reducing the pressure on power supply for the system, and is also a practical solution to reduce costs for businesses themselves, thereby improving the efficiency of the economy. In recent years, EVN has promoted programs on economical and efficient use of electricity. EVN focuses on promoting energy saving in households, residential areas, schools, and offices; supporting businesses in energy auditing, consulting on building energy management models, assessing and managing electricity demand for customers; supporting and providing rooftop solar power installation services. In particular, EVN has promoted the implementation of the electricity load adjustment program for key customers.

Simply put, adjusting the electricity load is to encourage business customers to limit their use of electricity during peak hours and switch to off-peak hours, thereby reducing the peak capacity of the national power system and reducing grid overload. “Adjusting the load not only saves customers but also reduces pressure on the electricity industry. Because if load adjustment is not implemented, the electricity industry will have to invest heavily in power sources and grids to meet the maximum capacity of the power system. Such a high capacity increase may only last 10-15 minutes, but the investment capital requirement is so large that the cost of electricity production increases, creating pressure on electricity prices, directly affecting electricity consumers,” Mr. Vo Quang Lam emphasized.

Son La Power Company staff promote safe, economical and efficient use of electricity. Photo: PHUONG ANH

More policies to promote electricity saving are needed.

Using energy economically and efficiently has been of interest to the Party and State leaders and is considered one of the important pillars to ensure energy security as well as help the energy sector develop sustainably. In 2020, Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW of the Politburo on "Vietnam's national energy development strategy orientation to 2030, with a vision to 2045" clearly stated that energy saving must be considered an important national policy and the responsibility of all organizations and individuals.

It can be seen that no matter how modern the energy system of a country is, whether it exports or imports energy, there is a policy of propaganda and requesting people to increase electricity saving. In Vietnam, to save energy effectively, a comprehensive approach is needed from both supply and demand sides. The State needs to have stronger measures so that businesses and people comply with energy saving. At the same time, there must be a mechanism to encourage, provide incentives or reward businesses that invest in energy saving solutions. "The awareness, habits and actions of an individual will affect the results of energy saving practices of organizations and units," emphasized Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh, Director of the Center for Research and Development of Electricity Market and Training, chair of the Vietnam Electricity Saving Network.

In reality, businesses appreciate the role of load adjustment. However, many businesses believe that load adjustment does not really have mechanisms to promote participation but only stops at calling, which does not create attractiveness for businesses. In particular, load adjustment is still voluntary, so when implementing, some customers give reasons for completing orders, cannot stop production... Accordingly, businesses say that the Government needs to have financial mechanisms to encourage the implementation of electricity load adjustment and soon have detailed instructions to attract customers to participate.

In the long term, Mr. Trinh Quoc Vu, Deputy Director of the Department of Energy Saving and Sustainable Development, Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that it is necessary to amend the Law on Economical and Efficient Use of Energy, and include policies and mechanisms to promote the energy saving market. Saving electricity is not simply a matter of raising awareness, but there should be specific sanctions for electricity users. Specifically, it is necessary to require industries that produce and consume a lot of electricity such as iron, steel, cement, etc. to convert technology, reduce energy consumption, and participate in the load adjustment program to use electricity more effectively and reasonably; Issue regulations and guidelines on energy consumption norms, lists and roadmaps for energy-consuming vehicles and equipment that must be eliminated... Thoroughly disseminate electricity saving to all staff, include electricity saving in the criteria for evaluating the level of task completion, comply with internal discipline, reward and propose competent state agencies to reward agencies, units, organizations and individuals with achievements in electricity saving.

It is forecasted that the North will continue to have a power shortage in the summer of next year (with a maximum shortage of nearly 2,000MW). Therefore, saving electricity is one of the solutions to cope with extreme situations that may occur. This is even more meaningful when Vietnam has made a strong commitment at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), determined to reduce net emissions to zero by 2050.

VU DUNG

*Please visit the Economics section to see related news and articles.