Vietnam is at a pivotal moment to deepen its participation in the emerging energy value chain.
This was shared by Mr. Nguyen Van Thien – Deputy General Director of Business Development & Market Expansion at GG Power Industry JSC, during the Forum on Improving Renewable Energy and Storage Policies: Building a Stable Green Energy Foundation for Businesses, organized by Business Forum Magazine.
From Participating in the Market to Leading the Market
According to Mr. Thien, energy today is no longer simply an input cost — it has become a strategic foundation that determines the competitiveness of both businesses and nations. In the new era, the countries that can secure and control their energy infrastructure will hold a decisive competitive advantage.
Major global trends are becoming increasingly evident: growing pressure to reduce emissions, rapid shifts in global supply chains, and the urgent need for businesses to transition toward greener and more sustainable operations.
As a result, the demand is no longer just for electricity, but for clean, stable, and cost-efficient energy sources that can be managed effectively over the long term. In this context, energy storage systems are emerging as a critical solution.
Beyond supporting grid stability and balancing electricity supply and demand, energy storage also enables businesses to optimize operational costs while creating the conditions for renewable energy to scale more sustainably and efficiently.
Mr. Thien also emphasized that global competition today is no longer defined solely by access to technology, but by the ability to control the value chain — and more importantly, the supply chain itself. Without supply chain ownership, businesses remain dependent on external partners for costs, timelines, and deployment capabilities. Conversely, mastering the supply chain enables greater autonomy and creates sustainable long-term competitive advantages.
Vietnam is presented with a significant opportunity to deepen its role within the emerging energy value chain.
Rapid growth in electricity demand, the strong expansion of renewable energy, and the ongoing global supply chain shift are creating unprecedented opportunities for the country. However, to fully capture this momentum, localization will be a decisive factor.
In the energy storage sector, localization goes far beyond domestic manufacturing. It means mastering critical capabilities such as system integration, solution design, research and development, and operational management.
This marks the transition from simply participating in the market to taking ownership of the market itself.
Key Challenges That Need to Be Addressed
In reality, demand for energy storage systems in Vietnam is growing rapidly. However, deployment has yet to match the market’s full potential due to several major bottlenecks.
First, there is still no clear regulatory framework defining the role of energy storage systems within the national power system.
Second, appropriate pricing mechanisms have not yet been established to ensure investment efficiency and long-term project viability.
Third, although technical standards have been issued, their implementation in practice remains inconsistent and lacks synchronization across the market.
In addition, Vietnam’s domestic supply chain remains limited, with many critical components still heavily dependent on imports. This creates challenges in project timelines, cost control, and scalability.
Against this backdrop, Vietnamese enterprises must shift their role from system implementers to technology and supply chain owners. For GG Power, this means a clear commitment to mastering core technologies and progressively localizing Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
GG Power has invested in a BESS manufacturing facility with a designed production capacity of 5GWh per year — currently among the largest BESS manufacturing facilities in Vietnam. More importantly, the company has adopted technology transfer from Goldwind under a white-box model, enabling GG Power to fully understand and control the system architecture and operating principles, rather than remaining at the level of simple assembly.
“We are building a comprehensive ecosystem of energy storage products and solutions to serve a wide range of market demands — from residential to commercial and industrial applications. At a larger scale, these storage solutions can be integrated into power systems and renewable energy projects, contributing to grid stability and improving overall system efficiency,” Mr. Thien stated.
GG Power has also set a target of achieving over 50% localization by the end of 2027, with the goal of building a more proactive, stable, and sustainable energy storage ecosystem.
To accelerate the development of the market in an effective and sustainable manner, GG Power proposed several key recommendations for regulatory authorities, including: clearly defining the role of energy storage systems in the power sector; developing suitable pricing mechanisms for BESS projects; expanding pilot BESS deployment models; improving the consistency of technical standards implementation; and supporting the development of domestic supply chains.
“Clean energy is a necessary condition, but localization and supply chain ownership are the sufficient conditions for building true competitive advantage. This is not only a business challenge, but also a strategic national issue for Vietnam’s next stage of development,” emphasized Mr. Nguyen Van Thien.
Source: Business Forum MagazineV
