On April 1, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chinh restructured the National Electricity Development Plan 2021-2030, also known as Power Development Plan 8 (or PDP8), with the issuance of Decision 262/QĐ-TTg. Under this decree, the plan is now officially designated as just the “Implementation Plan” and has been specified into actionable steps that determine Vietnam’s energy investment priorities for the next seven years. It includes strategic initiatives to import energy from neighborssuch as Laos and establish electrical storage and grid transmission projects to retain and distribute power domestically as well as regionally. This policy framework serves as a roadmap not just for the Vietnamese Government but also foreign and U.S.-based energy and infrastructure developers that will play a role in Vietnam’s energy transition.
The Implementation Plan outlines the projected capacity for conventional power sources within the next 7 years, a total of 101,903 MW, in which coal remains dominant, making up 29.56% of total capacity. This is closely followed by LNG terminals (21.98%) and domestic petroleum gas terminals(14.65%) as part of the same forecast. To balance this, the Implementation Plan emphasizes renewable energy sources as it outlines capacity addition of 62,396 MW by 2030. Hydropower is the leading source making up this renewable capacity at 47.03%, followed by onshore wind (35.07%), offshore wind (9.62%), and rooftop solar (4.17%). Hybrid approaches such as the Implementation plan are emblematic of the piecewise, practical energy transition that many in the industry call for, particularly U.S.-based LNG and oil and gas companies.
