Vietnam is grappling to deal with 15.7 million tons of coal ash a year.
Vietnam is
in need of urgent measures to treat a large amount of waste from thermal power
plants, which have become the the major source of the country’s electricity,
experts say.
According to
the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the country has about 20 coal-fired power
plants, discharging 15.7 million tons of coal ash each year.
By 2022 the
country will raise the number to 43 plants and more than 29 million tons of ash
will be discharged, as a result.
The huge
amount of coal ash is now mainly buried around thermal power plants or
transported to landfills, posing threats to the environment and causing
respiratory diseases for local residents.
The problem
may not go away anytime soon as Vietnam still relies on coal power as the main
source of electricity.
Nguyen Manh
Hien, former head of Vietnam’s Energy Institute said: “Renewable energies are
environmentally friendly but they require large investment and depend on
natural conditions so we can’t easily adjust production capacity to meet our
demand.”
“Coal
thermal power plant has the lowest investment cost but its production capacity
can triple that of a wind power plant
and quadruple a solar plant's,” Hien said.
Last year,
coal-fired plants accounted for 30.4 percent of Vietnam’s total electricity.
The figure is expected to reach 53 percent by 2030, equivalent to 300 billion
kWh.
The industry
ministry estimated that Vietnam will need about 129 million tons of coal a year
to meet its rising demand of energy, which will leave the country with at least
32 million tons of coal ash.
The waste
can be used as raw materials for other industries rather than being viewed as
toxic waste, according to Truong Duy Nghia, head of the Vietnam Thermal Science
and Technology Association.
He said that
coal ash can be used to produce cement and adobe bricks, which is the most
efficient way to mitigate environmental impacts of coal-fired power plants.
This method,
though already adopted by some companies, is facing barriers as no specific
mechanism for the reproduction of coal ash has been introduced.
Nguyen Van
Thanh from Vung Ang thermal power plant in the central province of Ha Tinh
proposed the government introduce a mechanism and allow cement companies to buy
coal ash for production again so that his plant can reduce the amount of this
waste material.
His plant
had been selling the waste to cement producers but recently stopped doing so,
after learning that such a practice is still pending official approval from the
government.
"If the
problem prolongs, we may have to close the plant,” Thanh said.
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