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According to the comprehensive plan to develop the IT human resources, Vietnam needed 1 million workers in the IT field in 2020. Yet the reality shows that there are only 600,000 IT students being trained in 400 higher educational institutes and 8 key IT training centers nationwide. Statistics from the Institute of Information Technology Strategy (under the Ministry of Information & Communications) show that 72 percent of IT students lack practical experience, while 42 percent are weak at team work. Only 15 percent of IT graduates satisfy the demands of employers. Vietnam now has over 700 IT companies working in key fields of the IT industry, including 220 foreign ones. They mostly locate in major cities or software parks. Notably, despite a high job potential, the AI field still attracts little attention from both learners and trainers. There is no formal university department or school to specifically provide tertiary education in this field. Most curriculum focus on software developing, which is a rather old trend of the previous decade. This calls for a serious curriculum redesign to answer the current needs of IT companies, both domestic and international. There should be an establishment of AI departments in universities or the development of such majors as computer vision, natural language processing, Big Data, robotics. Tertiary educational institutes should cooperate with IT businesses for internship programs, career guiding fairs, academic challenges, and training equipment provision (like server clusters, computing clusters, GPU, robots, IoT devices). Experts voiced that in order for HCMC to own sufficient core AI human resources, the municipal authorities must first identify the market needs and the ability to apply research result in reality. They then have to actively link the development of smart city, innovative urban areas with the growth of talented AI employees. These actions will gradually form a complete AI ecosystem so that HCMC …

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The proportion of solar and wind power projects in the entire national electricity system is expected to increase, requiring thorough preparation because of the instability of these power sources, experts have said. The draft of the eighth national power development plan shows majir changes in power source development from now to 2030 compared with the seventh plan. Under the draft, Vietnam will develop wind and solar power on a large scale, with the capacity of wind power increasing by three times and solar power by two times compared with the adjusted seventh plan. Vietnam will only continue the projects under construction or under investment promotion, to be operational in the 2021-2025 period. The coal-fired thermopower proportion will decrease gradually from 34 percent in 2020 to 27 percent by 2030. The Ministry of Investment and Trade wants to strongly develop gas-fired power with capacity increasing from 7GW in 2020 to 13.5GW by 2025 and 28-33GW by 2030 and the proportion of gas-fired power increasing from 15 percent in 2020 to 21-23 percent by 2030. The wind power capacity would rise from 600MW in 2020 to 11,000-12,000MW by 2025 and 18,000-19,000MW by 2030. Wind power would account for 11 percent of total installation capacity by 2025 and 13 percent by 2030. As for solar power, the capacity would increase from 17,000MW in 2020-2025 to 19,000-20,000MW by 2030. The proportion of solar power would be 17 percent of total installation capacity by 2025 and 14 percent by 2030. Wind and solar power would also be strongly developed in 2031-2045, accounting for 42 percent by 2045. However, because of the high uncertainty, the strong development of these power sources will have a major impact on the national electricity system. The ministry believes that as the electricity generation capacity of the sources of power can change rapidly, wind power will cause considerable fluctuations to the electricity system when the wind changes or stops. …

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Khanh Hoa province, on the south-central coast, has recently been leading the way in attaining attraction from both domestic and foreign financiers when it comes to the gas and electricity sector. Among the suitors is one from the United States, proposing the Millennium gas power project with a forecast capacity of 14,400MW and 17 million tonnes of storage for liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year. Joining in are Embark United Co., Ltd. and US Quantum Corporation to establish a 6,000MW gas power venture and a port warehouse to receive and process six million tonnes of LNG per year. Japanese investors did also not ignore the opportunity to develop gas power projects in Khanh Hoa, as Sumitomo Corporation proposed to invest in a 3,000MW gas power scheme and a storage system for three million tonnes of LNG per year, while J-Power Co., Ltd. wants to invest in a gas turbine power project with a capacity of 3,000MW. Despite a slightly slower approach, the province is also seeing the presence of more domestic investors, led by Electricity of Vietnam which proposed a 6,000MW gas power project, while Petrolimex wants to build a warehouse for around three million tonnes of LNG per year. Those involved in the gas power sector all understand that developing such a project in Vietnam is a difficult task, as the country is still in the process of building its Power Development Plan 8 (PDP8). Nevertheless, the total installed capacity of power sources by 2030 is supposed to reach 137.2GW, of which gas accounts for 21 per cent. Tran Ky Phuc, director of the Institute of Energy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) – the unit in charge of building the PDP8 – said that electricity demand in this plan is calculated lower than in the revised PDP7, reducing the forecast amount by 3-4 billion kWh in 2020 and 9-10 billion kWh in 2030. Realistic needs The development of gas power sources in Vietnam is the result of the exhaustion of fossil fuels, the …

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