Vietnam: Biogas plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

In October, a symposium was held in Ha Noi on the topic of Vietnam's biogas potential for meeting COP26 commitments.

Although it has great potential to use biogas, Viet Nam faces both legal and technological barriers to biogas resource development at medium and large scales. To pursue the reduction of CO₂ and methane emissions committed at the 26 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), the nation needs to introduce incentive policies and pour significant public and private investment into biogas plants to treat organic waste from industry, agriculture and municipalities. 

Those topics were addressed at the international symposium ‘Biogas development in Viet Nam in the light of COP26: Potential and challenges’, which took place on 18-19 October 2022 in Ha Noi. The event’s goal was to identify opportunities and obstacles, introduce advanced biogas technologies and learn from other countries in order to promote biogas use for power and heat.  

The symposium was jointly organised by the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority of Viet Nam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the German Development Cooperation Agency GIZ and the SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. The event is part of the Climate Protection through Sustainable Bioenergy Markets in Viet Nam (BEM) project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action through the International Climate Initiative. More than 100 people attended the project’s first international event on biogas.

‘With this symposium, we can contribute to the further utilisation of biogas potential in Viet Nam and the introduction of appropriate support mechanisms for biogas development,’ said Mr. Nathan Moore, Director of the BEM project. 

At the symposium, representatives of the Vietnamese government presented the national livestock strategy, waste treatment regulations and the contribution of biogas applications to the country’s COP26 commitment while local and international experts introduced their experience on biogas application for large-scale power generation. 

The event also included a panel discussion on Viet Nam’s biogas potential and strategies to attract more investment in the field. To promote the youth innovation, awards were presented to university and high-school students with the best papers on biogas proposals. Alongside the main activities there was an exhibition where organisations and private companies had the opportunity to display their work on biogas for power. 

Viet Nam’s potential for biogas power may reach 1,400 MW by 2035.  According to a study prepared by the BEM in 2021, the substrate sources with the highest biogas capacity are piggeries, the cassava industry and organic waste. 

However, electricity produced from biogas has struggled to maximise investment flows due to a lack of supporting mechanisms for on-grid biogas power plants, the high costs of system maintenance and inadequate human capacity. Thousands of very small-scale biogas plants have been installed – mostly for direct applications such as cooking – but the contribution of biogas for power generation to the grid is negligible, and biogas storage for grid balancing purposes hasn’t been implemented. 

The Biogas Symposium 2022 thus represents one-step towards addressing these challenges and unlocking the potential for biogas to help power Viet Nam’s clean energy transition.