Technology Product Reviews, Mobile News and Prices

Vietnam has a significant source of renewable energies, but fails to exploit the clean energies due to a shortage of detailed legal frame and mechanisms, experts say.

“Only 1.2 megawatts were generated from wind power at rural areas. There were investors importing 20 wind turbines with an output of 1.5 megawatt for each. They have connected to the national electricity grid since 2009,” said Le Tuan Phong, deputy head of the Energy Department, under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“Wind power needs supports from the government. Thus, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has submitted a mechanism to develop this renewable energy,” Phong noticed.

There were many investment projects on wind power at the central provinces of Ninh Thuan, Binh Dinh and Gia Lai, where have strong winds.

However, the cost remains very high, reaching nearly US 10 cents per kWh. Electricity generated from solar power, meanwhile, costs the most, ranging from 30 to 40 cents per kWh.

The government has set up preferential mechanisms for investment projects on renewable energies, including tax exemptions, low land rentals and price subsidization.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is setting up plans on developing renewable energies in order to meet the target of generating an amount of electricity from the energies, which will make 5 percent out of the country’s output in 2020.

Dr. Hoang Van Huan, vice chairman of the Foreign Investment Business Association, complaint there was a lack of a detailed legal frame for the renewable energy development.

“To meet the 5 percent target in 2020, the Energy Institution has proposed to set up a fund for renewable energy development. The Ministry of Industry and Trade also proposed to train human resources for renewable energy producers,” said Nguyen Duc Cuong, Director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Clean Development Mechanism.

Vietnam is one of 14 countries around the world having a potential of hydropower, with more than 120,000 hydropower plants producing the total output of 300 megawatts.

David Jozefy of the Czech-based wind turbine producer KV Venti said researches all showed Vietnam had profuse sources of renewable energy, of which the heat energy can generate 200 megawatts in 2020.

The energy sources can generate a great amount of electricity for a strongly growing Vietnam, said David.

Solar energy in an average of 2,000-2,500 hour per year sunlight can release around 150 kilocalories per square centimeter of heat, which is equal to an annual average output of 44 billion tons of oil. A kilocalorie per square centimeter is 42 million kilograms per square second.

The wind power source of Vietnam is also abundant, with an expected output of around 1,400 kilowatt per hour (kWh) on a square meter in a year at islands.

Statistics, however, show that the amount of electricity produce from the renewable sources remained very low, making only around 2.1 percent of the country’s total output. The domestic electricity consumption increased by an average of 17 percent per year, nearly double of the economic growth rate.

The Southeast Asian country is expected to import coal and crude oil to meet the power demand in the next five years. Therefore, renewable energies are the best solutions to curb the issue, analysts said.

Those who have cars, would be interested in GPS (global positioning system) devices. However, if they do not want to spend money to buy genuine software Vietmap which is priced at no less than 4-6 million dong (US$200-300), they can use the imitated Vietmap sourced from China.

GPS devices have been available at Dong Kinh Market in large quantities. At all the kiosks here, people can easily find the imitated digital map which has the surprisingly low price of one million dong integrated in a device with unfamiliar brand “LLC”. The device uses 12V electricity sourced from the built-in lighter. It has a 3.5-4 inch color touch screen with instructions in English, Chinese and Vietnamese.

At Dong Kinh Market, the “floor price” for GPS device with 3.5 inch screen integrated with Vietmap software 2007 version. The same device with Vietmap software 2009 version is 300,000 dong more expensive. “The products do not allow updates If you purchase the product priced at 1.3 million dong to install in your car, it can get the signals emitted from the police’s speedometer from the distance of one kilometer,” a seller tried to persuade a man to purchase the products.

In fact, no one knows for sure about the real quality of the products; however, the surprisingly low prices can easily persuade people. The goods are so cheap that buyers would not regret much if they can use them for some time even if they have to throw them away later.

Besides GPS devices, high-tech buyers can also find eye-catching mobile phones which have been designed with the inspiration from super cars such as Porscher Lamborghini, or Hummer.

Most of super car-styled mobile phones have 2.2 inch touchscreen with 65,000-256,000 colours, and 2.0-12.0 megapixel camera. The mobile phones allow the user to listen to MP3 music, watch MP4 film… and have the price of two million dong on average. However, the mobile phones which allow two-wave simcard (both CDMA and GSM networks) are priced at 2.5 million dong.

In fact, such mobile phones are also available in Hanoi. They are much cheaper, by hundreds of thousands dong per product, than at Dong Kinh market.

However, the biggest problem here is that buyers at Dong Kinh Market cannot use the warranty services, while they can do if purchasing products in Hanoi. In fact, some sellers offer warranty services in order to attract more buyers. But buyers would have to go back to the market, 150 kilometers far from Hanoi.

The noteworthy thing in the market is that prohibited goods are displayed openly. The “black technology” products, such as cameras, or key hooks with eavesdropping devices, are available at all electronics kiosks.

Most of these products are as small as matchboxes. The products use 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz band of GSM network and they have installed the MiniSIM of mobile phone in order to be used as sound recorders.

In February 2011, according to Buu dien, as the supply is profuse, the devices are selling very cheaply, at 500-650,000 dong. The products with more complicated functions which allow to automatically call those, who want to eavesdrop, would be 100,000 dong more expensive.

The currently valid Government’s Decree No. 59 stipulates that all eavesdropping equipments are listed as prohibited goods. However, at Dong Kinh Market and other markets in the border provinces, such as Tan Thanh, Dong Dang in Lang Son province, Coc Leu in Lao Cai, the laws have been “ignored”. In fact, the market management taskforce has turned a blind eye to the products.