Enhancing capacity of energy management, audit in Vietnam

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Hanoi – The Technical Assistance for the Implementation of the EU-Vietnam Energy Facility (in short EU-Vietnam Energy Facility or EVEF) project in collaboration with the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) on August 20 held an online consultation workshop on proposals to improve training programme and certification for energy managers and auditors towards lifelong learning.

Markus Bissel, head of Component Energy Efficiency under the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (4E) Project, GIZ Vietnam, said it is necessary to research and build a training and certification model in the orientation of "lifelong learning" to enhance the quality of energy management and audit. It would help trainees to continuously update their knowledge to improve energy audit and management capacity, he said.

According to Dang Hai Dung from the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development, energy management and audit will help businesses and the State be more proactive in energy efficiency planning.

The implementation of “lifelong learning” model is essential, he said, adding that it would continue to support energy managers to access new technologies and regulations related to energy after the initial certification.

Energy efficiency activities in Vietnam mainly focus on the industrial sector with 3,006 key energy consuming facilities in 2019, in which, 2,441 establishments are in the field of industrial production.

Nguyen Dang Minh, a representative of Vietnam Technology Solutions Company, said that the regulations related to the granting of certificates for energy managers have been specified clearly and fully.

However, the inconsistent training content between establishments authorised to providing certificates resulted in the uneven quality of learners, he said. Minh suggested the MoIT issue new updated training process along with guidance to enable training providers implement the process in a uniform manner.

The EVEF is a joint technical cooperation project funded by the EU and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in close cooperation with the MoIT.

The project aims to contribute to the enhancing of governance of the energy sector to facilitate the shift to a more sustainable energy development path in Vietnam.