Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Vietnam: Time to Study Geothermal Energy Potential - Minister

Deputy Minister urges geothermal research (Viet Nam News)

(Courtesy CIA.gov)
Việt Nam’s national energy development plan does not include geothermal sources, but a senior official said yesterday that it was time to study their potential in the country.

Nguyễn Linh Ngọc, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), was speaking at a conference held in the capital city on geothermal energy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ngọc said that small-sized hydropower plants provide 70 per cent of the total country’s total energy output, leaving biogas/biomass a distant second at 14 per cent, while renewable energy, including solar and wind energy, both account for about 6 per cent.

Meanwhile, geothermal energy has remained a complete no-show. Feasibility studies were only recently conducted in the central provinces of Quảng Bình and Quảng Trị.