Vietnam Expands World Bank-supported Energy Saving Programs

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade last weekend held a conference in the northern city of Haiphong to continue the Voluntary Agreement (VA) and the operations of energy service companies (ESCOs), two energy-saving programs receiving support from the World Bank (WB) and the Global Environmental Fund (GEF). The event aims to promote the application of the energy-saving programs which receive both financial and technical support of the WB and the GEF. The 10-year VA program now continues its pilot period which will last for two years while the ESCOs model has gained significant results. Firms joining the VA will receive support from the ministry for the application of this energy-saving program and other trademark promotion programs. By applying the ESCOs program, businesses will able to save energy and reduce gas emissions. According to local experts, companies can save up to 65% of energy expenses when using equipment from ESCOs projects. Tran Viet Nguyen, deputy head of EVN’s Marketing Department, said that ESCOs model is part of the group’s energy-saving programs in the 2016-2020 period. Accordingly, EVN targets to develop at least 50 ESCOs projects annually. (Bnews May 19)