The "Vietnam Energy Outlook 2019" recently issued warned that investment in new coal-fired power plants must be stopped in order to curb the trend of coal consumption growth. Published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in cooperation with the Danish Energy Agency, the report states that Vietnam needs to take early action to reduce future coal demand, which may include taxing coal use or restricting investment in new coal power plants.

From now to 2030, with the simultaneous growth of electricity demand and rapid economic growth, Vietnam's coal imports may triple, and by 2050, this number will increase eightfold, which means that three-quarters of Vietnam ’s Energy demand will depend on imports.

Renewable energy will account for 10% of total supply by 2030 and 20% by 2050. Vietnam needs to invest in expanding power grids and transmission channels to absorb new supplies. LNG can replace coal in the power industry, and although it costs more, it has less pollution.

Vietnam became a net importer of coal in 2015, and imports to meet electricity demand have been increasing. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, coal imports in 2018 cost US $ 2.27 billion, an increase of 71.6% year-on-year, of which mainly imported from Indonesia, Australia and Russia.

Vietnam is expected to have a power shortage by 2021. It will need to import 3.6 billion kWh from Laos and China in 2021, and it is expected to import 9 billion kWh of electricity in 2023 to meet demand.

The World Bank estimates that Vietnam will need 150 billion US dollars for the development of the energy industry by 2030, and the demand for electricity will grow at an annual rate of 8% in the next ten years.