New green energy projects underway in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City will employ two additional power plants with a combined capacity of 40MW using energy created by organic waste.

This is part of the city's the plan for electric power development from 2011-2015.

The organic waste will be collected from Thu Duc, Hoc Mon and Binh Dien markets.

Each of these markets discharges about 50 tonnes of waste daily, 95 percent of which is organic waste. Projects producing electricity with energy created from waste have an estimated investment cost of US$3-4 million each. Apart from generating power, such projects would help reduce the city's waste collection costs by VND300 million per month.

In late 2011, the Saigon Industrial Corporation, Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation, Neptech, and YnS-OCBM  worked with each other to establish a wind power equipment production company. The company is piloting the production of three wind turbines worth US$4.8 million using Russian YnS technology, two of which will be installed in Can Gio District in Ho Chi Minh City, with the other located in Tuy Phong District in Binh Thuan Province.

If the first phase of the project proves successful, the project's capital will be increased in the second phase to construct factories producing turbines, blades and other wind power equipment and devices.

The city spent almost VND2 trillion on energy efficiency and conservation programs. This has helped reduce electricity consumption in the city by 2.5 percent, decreasing the city's electricity costs by almost VND700 billion per year.

The city's VND50 billion, 154meter-long Anh Sao Bridge spanning Thay Tieu Canal in Phu My Hung Urban Area is equipped with LED lights that are fueled by solar energy. The bridge's energy cost is a fifth of other bridges that use conventional lighting.

Other energy efficient and conservation projects in the city include the 28 solar power poles in the Saigon Hi-tech Park, which can work in every weather condition, and LED lighting systems fueled with solar and wind energy in the Ben Thanh Market area.

Trinh Quang Dung, the head of the solar power technology department of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Physics, said that community awareness of energy efficiency and conservation is the biggest obstacle to the realization of energy efficiency and conservation policies. Although they have acknowledged that energy efficiency and conservation can bring major benefits, many business owners continue to hesitate over the investment, while residents have few opportunities to purchase energy efficient products, he said.