HANOI - Vietnam approved on Monday a long-awaited plan to boost renewables by the end of the decade, with total investment estimated at $134.7 billion, but coal is set to remain a crucial source of energy until 2030 before being gradually phased out.

Under the plan, known as PDP8, the country with a population of 100 million will more than double its power generation capacity to over 150 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from 69 GW at the end of 2020.

Here’s a look at the main sources of electricity for the 2021-2030 period as set out in the plan:

LNG and domestic gas power plants using domestic gas and imported LNG will account for 37.33 GW or 24.8%.

As of the end of 2020, the total capacity of gas-fired power plants in Vietnam was 9.03 GW, or 13.1% of the country’s generation mix at that time, exclusively from domestic gas.

Total capacity of LNG-fired power plants will be 22.4 GW by 2030, accounting for 14.9% of the mix from zero now. The country will have a fleet of 13 LNG power plants by 2030, with the first one scheduled to go online from the fourth quarter next year.

PetroVietnam Gas has completed the construction of the country’s first LNG terminal in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province with an initial capacity of one million tonnes a year.

Plants using domestic gas will have combined capacity of 14.93 GW by 2030, accounting for 9.9% of the mix.

Coal

Coal has for years been a key source of power for Vietnam and will remain so until the end of this decade. At the end of 2020, installed capacity of all coal-fired power plants was 21.38 GW, or 30.8% of the mix.

Capacity of coal-fired power plants will increase to 30.13 GW by 2030, accounting for 20% of the mix.

Vietnam will not develop new coal-fired power plants after 2030. Coal-fired power plants of 20 years or older will be switched to using biomass or ammonia and those over 40 years old that fail to switch will be shut down.

By 2050, Vietnam will stop using coal for power generation, switching all coal plants to using biomass and ammonia.

Hydropower

The plan calls for fully harnessing the country’s hydropower potential, which is estimated at 40 GW.

Hydropower capacity will increase to 29.35 GW by 2030, accounting for 19.5% of the mix. The capacity is expected to reach 36 GW by 2050.

At the end of 2020, hydropower capacity was 21 GW, or 30.3% of the mix at that time.

WINDBy 2030, wind capacity will reach 27.88 GW, including 6 GW of offshore wind capacity. Offshore wind capacity is expected to increase to 70.0 GW-91.5 GW by 2050 from zero now.

At the end of 2020, total installed capacity of onshore wind farms in Vietnam was 0.54 GW, or 0.8% of the mix.

Vietnam’s onshore wind energy potential is estimated at 221 GW and offshore wind potential at 600 GW.

SOLARTotal installed solar capacity will increase to 12.8 GW by 2030, accounting for 8.5% of the mix. That is a threefold drop from 2020 when a boom in investment led to installed surplus capacity that could not be connected to the grid.

By 2050, total solar capacity is expected to be as high as 189 GW.

The plan calls for policies to encourage rooftop solar development, especially in areas prone to power shortages. The plan said there is no limit on rooftop solar development.

The plan said Vietnam aims to have half of its office buildings and homes powered by rooftop solar panels by 2030.

Vietnam has solar energy potential of 963 GW.