Farmers harvest sugarcane in Phú Yên Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Tường Quân

HÀ NỘI — The Vietnam Sugarcane Association (VSA) has proposed adjusting the draft revised Power Plan VIII, to resolve the ongoing problem of disposing of waste and to fully exploit the potential of biomass power development.

The VSA's recommendations proposed to the Ministry of Industry and Trade aim to solve the ongoing waste situation and at the same time exploit the full potential of biomass power development in Việt Nam's sugar industry and to achieve the IEA's roadmap for transitioning to a net zero emission energy system by 2050.

The association proposed reviewing and abolishing regulations classifying biomass power projects, suggesting that electricity generated from waste sugar cane fibres also be biomass power according to international practices.

In the immediate future, VSA proposed to adjust the application of one electricity price for all biomass power projects at VNĐ1,968 per kWh, equivalent to 8.47 US cents per kWh.

At the same time, VSA proposed to determine the important role of biomass power in stabilising the power system to support the expansion of intermittent renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind power, thereby taking appropriate support and incentive measures and considering adjusting to increase the rate of biomass power to a level equivalent to the rate of biomass power in the IEA's net zero emissions roadmap by 2050 (about 5 per cent of electricity output).

The association proposed to immediately include 28 sugar factories in the list of biomass power project developments with the potential to install 1,064MW and unlimited capacity expansion in the future.

According to the VSA, Việt Nam's sugar industry currently has 10 biomass power projects, accounting for more than 90 per cent of the country's total biomass power.

Since 2014, the Prime Minister has issued Decision No. 24/2014/QĐ-TTg on the mechanism to support the development of biomass power projects in Việt Nam. In 2020, another decision was promulgated to amend and supplement a number of articles in the previous one.

However, a barrier still exists, such as regulations that classify biomass power projects into two types: biomass cogeneration of heat and electricity (from sugarcane bagasse) and other biomass projects. Meanwhile, the co-generation of electricity from sugarcane bagasse is the main source of biomass electricity (more than 90 per cent of biomass electricity output).

According to the VSA, due to low electricity purchasing prices, sugar mills cannot raise sugarcane buying prices, which decreases sugarcane and electricity output during the crushing season. In addition, the heat-electricity co-generation mechanism makes it impossible for the plant to operate as a biomass power plant outside of the crushing season because it is not economically feasible.

"This is a major shortcoming when all ten biomass power plants of the sugar industry currently have to accept shutdown for seven to eight months a year (outside of the crushing season) and is truly a waste of infrastructure resources, in the context of the national electricity system lacking supply, while potentials of biomass power has not yet exploited fully ," said the VSA.

All sugarcane-growing countries (about 80 countries) recognise co-generation from sugarcane bagasse as biomass electricity and have preferential mechanisms to encourage development. This contributes to diversifying the power source structure, ensuring energy security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting the environment.

In fact, since the support mechanism was introduced until now, no new biomass power project has been put into operation. This shows that the support mechanism is not attractive enough to encourage and attract investments in this field, according to the VSA.

According to the draft project for adjusting Power Plan VIII, in the power source structure until 2030, biomass power, electricity produced from waste and geothermal power will be 2,609-3,506MW (accounting for 1.3-1.7 per cent of the total capacity of power plants), an increase compared to Power Plan VIII from 339-1,236MW. — BIZHUB/ VNS