Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on March 5 launched a158 million USD energy project to help key industries and enterprises withenergy saving.

The “Vietnam Energy Efficiency for Industrial Enterprises” project (VEEIE) aimsto promote efficient energy use and contribute to the country’s overall goalsof energy efficiency and conservation, according to Deputy Minister Hoang QuocVuong.

The project, which was established by the World Bank (WB) and MoIT on December29, 2017, and will last until July 2022, has a total budget of 158 million USDwith two-thirds of the fund being financed by the WB’s International Bank forReconstruction and Development and the rest being provided by the VietnameseGovernment.

The financing provided by the WB includes two components – 100 million USD willbe spent on developing energy-saving projects for key industries and 1.7million USD will be spent on technical assistance for those projects.

"The project will remove barriers and create a favourable and sustainableenvironment for industrial enterprises to get access to medium- and long-termcapital to implement their energy saving projects, contributing their effortsto the nation’s goal of saving energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions andprotecting the environment in Vietnam,” Vuong said.

He said that investing in energy-saving solutions can significantly reduce theincreasing need for energy at a cost level that is a quarter of the spending onnewly-established energy supply.

“According to the Vietnam National Energy Efficiency Programme (VEEP), thecountry has a lot of room for more energy-saving action,” the deputy ministersaid. By industry, the cement industry can save up to 50 percent of totalenergy consumption, and the figures for ceramics, coal, textile, steel and foodprocessing industries range from 20 percent to 35 percent.

The Department of Energy Saving & Sustainable Development under the MoITproposed the Government increase budget spending for energy saving projects inthe period 2018-20.

Local enterprises need to be aware of the role of energy saving and efficiencyin production and business activities, thus they need to further invest intechnology and equipment renovation as the benefits of efficient energymanagement are always higher than the costs of investing and the costs can beoffset by the returns on investment in a short period, the department said.

According to the MoIT agency, the national target programme on energyefficiency and utilisation in 2011-15 has saved 5.96 percent of total energyconsumption, which is equal to saving over 11.8 million tonnes of oil.

The agency also reported that the energy consumption intensity of productionindustries that used to consume significant energy has dropped in the period2011-15, such as steel (down 8.09 percent); cement (down 6.33 percent) and yarn(down 7.32 percent).

Vuong highlighted the efforts of the Vietnamese Government in improving energyefficiency in the country. However, “Vietnam is still one of the countries withthe highest energy consumption intensity compared to other countries in theregion and the world. In the national energy consumption structure, productionindustries account for the highest proportion, about 47.3 percent of totalenergy use.”

"Industrial growth is one of the main factors keeping Vietnam’s energyintensity high compared to other countries around the world," he said.-VNA