Vietnam Biogas Programme

Vietnam,

concluded

People in developing countries are facing increasing challenges to secure energy for cooking and lightning purposes. Their access to traditional cooking fuels is declining while commercial fuels are expensive and the supply is unreliable. Furthermore, the

People in developing countries are facing increasing challenges to secure energy for cooking and lightning purposes. Their access to traditional cooking fuels is declining while commercial fuels are expensive and the supply is unreliable. Furthermore, the collection of biomass fuels and the production of charcoal deplete natural resources and damage the environment and the smoke that results from burning solid biomass fuels increases the risk for respiratory illnesses and eye ailments.

On the other hand, animal husbandry, and in particular the 26.9 million pigs that are raised in Vietnam, cause considerable sanitary and environmental pollution problems. Biogas technology can convert animal manure and human excreta into a renewable, reliable and affordable source of energy. Biogas therefore helps to tackle environmental, health and energy supply challenges.

The Vietnam Biogas Programme was founded in 2003 by SNV with funding from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS), aiming to effectively exploit biogas technologies and develop a commercially viable biogas sector in Vietnam. SNV provides technical assistance to the implementer of Vietnam Biogas Programme, the Department of Livestock Production under the Vietnam’s Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD). Key activities include:

Training biogas masons on the construction of various designs of brick- dome shaped domestic bio-digesters;
Training government technicians on biogas technology. The trained technicians play an important role in communicating about benefits of biogas technology, supporting enterprises in identifying suitable households and providing them with extension services on the use of bio-slurry;
Advocating the benefits of biogas technology via mass media;
Quality control by government technicians to ensure the construction meets quality standards;
Research and development, including research on the use of bio-slurry, new uses for the biogas other than cooking and lighting.

Since 2013 the Programme has been supported by Energising Development (EnDev), and started introducing the innovative Results-Based Financing (RBF) mechanism to deploy the full potentials of biogas enterprises.

Since its inception until March 2017, the Vietnam Biogas Programme has:

Facilitated the construction of 158,500 domestic biogas digesters, resulting in access to a clean, renewable and reliable source of energy for more than 790,000 rural individuals across 55 provinces and cities of Vietnam;
Created more than 2,500 new jobs in rural Vietnam
Trained nearly 1,700 biogas masons and supported 355 biogas construction team leaders in establishing biogas businesses;
Provided pre-installation training to 164,525 households. Provided training on post-installation and use of bio-slurry to 161,397 households;
Reduced around 800,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year;
Successfully registered with the Voluntary Gold Standard. Awarded with 1,290,876 carbon credits under Gold Standard Voluntary Emission Reductions between 2013 and 2015.