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Cooperative with the problem of exploiting renewable energy

Cooperative with the problem of exploiting renewable energy

In agriculture, power sources play an extremely important role in maintaining and expanding modern, commodity-oriented production. However, in reality, many cooperatives are still finding it difficult to expand production and business due to lack of electricity supply.

Worry about lack of electricity

Developed in an area with strong fisheries, in recent years, Hoa Nghia shrimp farming cooperative (Soc Trang) has still suffered from lack of electricity for production. Mr. Dang Van Xua, a member of the cooperative, said: Raising white shrimp is the most difficult because it does not have enough electricity to run oxygen fans and must run on diesel engines, increasing costs 4-5 times. If members of the cooperative extend electricity to the pond, it can potentially compromise the safety of the power grid and make household appliances almost inoperable.

Or like H'Mong Cooperative (Dien Bien) is developing a model of growing strawberries, chayote, taro, asparagus... The cooperative plans to continue developing a processing factory to expand the ability to consume agricultural products for people. people and combined to create a tourism model. However, according to the Cooperative's Board of Directors, due to difficult terrain, pulling the electrical system to serve production and processing has not yet come true.

"If there is no stable power source to meet the operation of large-capacity machinery, it also means that processing work cannot operate stably and the production chain cannot be optimized," Mr. Duong Anh Van, Director The cooperative director shared.

It can be seen that the demand for electricity to serve production and commodity-oriented processing of cooperatives is not small. However, many cooperatives still do not have a stable power source for production for many different reasons.

At the seminar "Energy saving - solutions to increase benefits and reduce costs in agricultural and food production and processing", MSc. Nguyen Bich Thuy, member of the World Energy Council, said that each locality in Vietnam all has different strengths for agricultural development. However, reality shows that many regions still lack electricity, especially in remote areas, while these regions have advantages in tourism and the development of indigenous products.

The cause of this situation is due to not taking advantage of renewable energy sources. While Vietnam has a lot of potential to produce energy sources such as wind power, hydropower, biomass, tides...

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Drying agricultural products with a solar energy system helps protect the environment, improve quality and economic efficiency.

According to Ms. Thuy, with a total number of sunshine hours of over 2.500 hours/year and being able to produce about 230-250 kcal/cm2 increasing towards the South, Vietnam can completely promote the exploitation of energy sources. the sun with a rooftop solar power system.

Or about 40% of Vietnam's total area has an average annual wind speed at an altitude of 65m greater than 6m/s, equivalent to a total capacity of 513 GW. If utilized, it can generate significant amounts of electricity.

Taking advantage of and exploiting renewable energy sources not only helps solve the problem of electricity shortage due to insufficient supply in many localities, especially in mountainous and remote areas, but also contributes significantly. into environmental protection.

According to calculations by experts, using renewable energy sources will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions effectively. For example, a 1MWp solar power system will generate about 1.5 million kWh of electricity/year, helping to reduce emissions by about 1.000 tons of CO2/year.

Increase benefits, attract investment

Due to practical socio-economic and environmental benefits, more and more cooperatives are interested in clean energy solutions.

Typically, Tan Phat Loi Cooperative (Ca Mau) specializes in producing shrimp crackers, shelled dried shrimp, peeled dried shrimp, dried snakehead fish, shrimp floss, shrimp salt...

Taking advantage of natural energy sources, the cooperative has invested in drying equipment using solar energy, helping to be proactive in production, increase output, ensure food safety and hygiene, and increase economic efficiency. Drying agricultural products using solar energy also reduces greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional charcoal drying.

At the Noong Phu Longan Cooperative in Noong Phu village (Son La), a rooftop solar power system with a capacity of 10,3 kWp has been installed. The cooperative has used rooftop solar power to irrigate 14 hectares of fruit trees using high technology and pump water for 3 fish ponds. Since installing the rooftop solar system, the cooperative has saved 2 million VND per month. In addition, the cooperative also produces excess solar power and transmits more than 1.500 kWp back into the national grid.

In addition to cooperatives that take advantage of solar energy to produce and process agricultural products and produce grid electricity, there are also livestock cooperatives that build biogas tanks, contributing to providing more energy through gas while improving efficiency. agricultural production results.

However, to take advantage of energy sources, experts say that functional sectors need to pay attention to developing renewable energy projects and allocate these projects appropriately based on natural conditions. nature and characteristics of energy sources.

Currently, renewable energy projects are mostly concentrated in the Central and Southern regions, where electricity demand and growth are lower than in the North. Furthermore, the infrastructure is not adequate to transmit enough electricity from the Central and Southern regions to the North.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Lien, Association of Food Transparency (AFT) said that the benefits from renewable energy are undeniable, but the initial investment cost is quite high, leading to there still being few cooperatives and households. invest in this segment.

For example, for solar power systems connected to the national grid, in addition to investing in solar panels, households and cooperatives need to invest in additional power conversion equipment such as: DC power converter, Two-way meters, electrical cabinets, etc. In addition, costs such as installation, maintenance, and repair are also much higher than conventional grid electricity.

Another challenge is inadequacies in the policy system. According to Decision No. 13/2020/QD-TTg, this type of solar power currently only applies the support tariff to projects put into commercial operation before January 1, 1. In addition, problems with the system of regulations and standards for applying renewable energy technologies or policies that do not ensure regional compatibility also prevent people and cooperatives from investing and make work difficult. manage.

Therefore, in addition to perfecting flexible policy mechanisms, authorities need to focus on developing renewable energy projects that are suitable to reality. This not only meets the needs of socio-economic development, environmental protection, but also opens up great opportunities in ensuring energy security...

Source: VnBussiness

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