HANOI, September 20, 2017- The World Bank and the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) launched today a campaign to promote the deployment of renewable energy in the country, with the installation of five solar measurement stations across the country.
The stations will collect high-quality data on solar radiation data and improve the accuracy of estimates on solar resources. To be published and made freely available online, the data is expected to encourage and assist developers interested in building solar power plants.
The solar measurement campaign follows the recent publication by the World Bank of updated solar maps for Vietnam, which show the average solar resource potential at a 1km resolution. The data and maps can be accessed via the Global Solar Atlas. After two years of the measurement campaign, Vietnam’s solar maps will be fully validated, of excellent quality, and ready for planning and prospecting purposes.
“The costs of solar power generation are falling around the world. Vietnam is taking an important step in fostering an enabling environment for clean power generation that is quick to build,” said Ousmane Dione, Country Director for the World Bank in Vietnam. “The World Bank Group will continue to support Vietnam in meeting the country’s growing demand for electricity with sustainable renewable options, such as hydropower development, more energy efficiency in the industrial sector, and more efficiency of the transmission and distribution grids.”
The World Bank’s support for solar measurements and mapping is part of a project – supported by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, or ESMAP – that is also assessing and mapping the potential of biomass, small hydropower, and wind energy. The measurement stations being unveiled today in Song Binh, Bac Binh district, Binh Thuan province is part of a comprehensive suite of World Bank support for renewable energy that also includes advisory assistance to large solar power projects seeking to obtain commercial financing.