Vietnamese food processing sector to save energy with World Bank help

October 30, 2015 | 15:00

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On October 29 the World Bank and the Ministry of Industry and Trade kicked off a project to improve energy efficiency in the Vietnamese food processing industry.

The project, named “Food processing industry – strategic sector study and subproject pipeline development for improving energy efficiency with integrated ozone and climate benefits,” is part of the bigger Vietnam Energy Efficiency for Industrial Entreprises (VEEIE) project. It aims to determine the potential for industrial energy saving and suggest a roadmap to improve energy efficiency in the food processing sector, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The strategic sector study is going to point out steps as well as machineries and equipment that use the most energy in the operation of food processing companies, both big and small and medium entreprises (SMEs). The energy saving subprojects will receive a total of up to $200 million in loan from the World Bank for implementation.

Food processing is one of the major industries in Vietnam and a big contributor to the country’s annual exports. Outdated technologies that use a lot of energy as well as HFCFs now account for 20-30 per cent of the technologies employed in the sector. The sector itself uses 19.2 per cent of the total energy used by all industries in Vietnam and this percentage is on the rise. Related research has shown that this sector has the biggest potential for energy saving amongst all sectors.

The VEEIE project, expected to be carried out in the 2016-2020 period, will provide loans to companies to carry out energy saving projects. As part of the VEEIE project, companies are going to receive technical support, including support in conducting an energy audit and in making a feasibility study for their energy saving and energy efficiency projects.

By By Khanh Tran

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