Vietnamese and foreign energy expertsand businesses gathered in Ho Chi Minh City on Nov. 12 for a seminar todiscuss the potential for energy development using rice husks.
At the seminar, the International Financial Corporation (IFC) announceda comprehensive research project co-sponsored by Finland , Ireland ,the Netherlands , New Zealand and Switzerland on turning rice husksinto a clean energy source in Vietnam , one of the leading riceproducers in the world.
Vietnam can use one-fifth of its total output of around 7.5 milliontonnes of rice husks in 2010 for power generation. A power plantfuelled by this organic material can turn out 1-1.2 TWh/year withpossible design capacities of between 160-180MW, said the research.
IFC also noted that the best area for such power projects is the Mekongdelta region – the country’s biggest granary--where only 15-20 percentof rice husk volume is used and most of the rice husking plants arenear rivers and canals which are convenient for transportation at lowcost. Rice-husk fuelled power projects will considerably reduce CO2emissions and the amount of unneeded rice husks usually dumped intorivers and canals.
However, the research also pointed out the financial weakness of theplan, as the investment in producing one MW of power from suchmaterials will be around 1.5 times higher than other sources and allthe technology needed to produce it will need to be imported.
Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Energy DepartmentLe Tuan Phong said that his ministry and the World Bank are building alegal framework to encourage renewable energy development, includingenergy the from rice-husks. A decree on the issue will be presented tothe Government at the end of the year, he added.
At present, there are at least three projects using rice husks in thesouth, namely the Dinh Hai rice husk fuelled thermoelectric power plantin Can Tho city and the Holcim cement project. The third one is the18.6 million USD 10MW power plant in Tien Giang province, Phong said.
WB representative Richard Spencer said that the bank will provideeither loans or technical assistance to rice husk fuelled powerprojects in the country.
In the meantime, the IFC committed to set up the relations betweenbanks and local and foreign financial institutions to ensure a flexiblefinancial mechanism for such projects.
The IFC now has a 400 million USD fund to assist small rice huskfuelled power projects in many countries, said Karla Quizon, head ofthe IFC’s sustainable social and environmental development section inthe Mekong Delta./.
At the seminar, the International Financial Corporation (IFC) announceda comprehensive research project co-sponsored by Finland , Ireland ,the Netherlands , New Zealand and Switzerland on turning rice husksinto a clean energy source in Vietnam , one of the leading riceproducers in the world.
Vietnam can use one-fifth of its total output of around 7.5 milliontonnes of rice husks in 2010 for power generation. A power plantfuelled by this organic material can turn out 1-1.2 TWh/year withpossible design capacities of between 160-180MW, said the research.
IFC also noted that the best area for such power projects is the Mekongdelta region – the country’s biggest granary--where only 15-20 percentof rice husk volume is used and most of the rice husking plants arenear rivers and canals which are convenient for transportation at lowcost. Rice-husk fuelled power projects will considerably reduce CO2emissions and the amount of unneeded rice husks usually dumped intorivers and canals.
However, the research also pointed out the financial weakness of theplan, as the investment in producing one MW of power from suchmaterials will be around 1.5 times higher than other sources and allthe technology needed to produce it will need to be imported.
Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Energy DepartmentLe Tuan Phong said that his ministry and the World Bank are building alegal framework to encourage renewable energy development, includingenergy the from rice-husks. A decree on the issue will be presented tothe Government at the end of the year, he added.
At present, there are at least three projects using rice husks in thesouth, namely the Dinh Hai rice husk fuelled thermoelectric power plantin Can Tho city and the Holcim cement project. The third one is the18.6 million USD 10MW power plant in Tien Giang province, Phong said.
WB representative Richard Spencer said that the bank will provideeither loans or technical assistance to rice husk fuelled powerprojects in the country.
In the meantime, the IFC committed to set up the relations betweenbanks and local and foreign financial institutions to ensure a flexiblefinancial mechanism for such projects.
The IFC now has a 400 million USD fund to assist small rice huskfuelled power projects in many countries, said Karla Quizon, head ofthe IFC’s sustainable social and environmental development section inthe Mekong Delta./.
