Education of renewable energy in elementary and secondary schools towards sustainable development case study in viet nam and japan

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY TRAN VIET HUONG EDUCATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT- CASE ST

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

TRAN VIET HUONG

EDUCATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

SCHOOLS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT- CASE STUDY IN VIET

NAM AND JAPAN

MASTER’S THESIS

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

TRAN VIET HUONG

EDUCATION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IN

ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY

SCHOOLS TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT- CASE STUDY IN VIET

NAM AND JAPAN

MAJOR: CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT

CODE: 8900201.02QTD

RESEARCH SUPERVISORS:

PROF MEGUMI SAKAMOTO

Hanoi, 2020

PLEDGE

I assure that this thesis is the result of my own research and has not been published anywhere The use of other research results and documents must comply with the regulations Citations and references to documents, books, research papers and websites must be in the list of references of the thesis

Author of the thesis

(Signature)

TRAN VIET HUONG

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLEDGE i

TABLE OF CONTENTS ii

LIST OF FIGURES iv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 The necessity of the research 1

1.2 The research questions and hypotheses 2

1.2.1 Research question 2

1.2.2 Hypotheses 2

1.3 Research objectives and tasks 3

1.3.1 Research objectives 3

1.3.2 Research tasks 3

1.4 Objects and scope 3

1.4.1 Research objects 3

1.4.2 Scope 3

1.5 Research method 4

1.6 Research framework 4

1.7 Historical review of Renewable energy education 5

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 9

2.1 Document analysis method 9

2.2 Sociological research method 9

2.2.1 Questionnaire survey 9

2.2.2 In-depth interview 10

2.3 Method of data analysis 11

2.4 Method of charts 11

3.1 Renewable energy policy in Vietnam and Japan 12

3.1.1 Energy and renewable energy policy in Vietnam 12

3.1.2 Energy policy in Japan 19

3.1.3 Impact of energy policy on RE education 26

CHAPTER 4: AWARENESS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY OF PUPILS IN VIET NAM AND JAPAN 29

4.1 Current situation of RE education in Vietnam and Japan 29

4.1.1 Teaching method and activities in Japan 30

4.1.2 Teaching method and activities in Vietnam 33

4.2 Pupil awareness of RE in Japan and Vietnam 46

4.2.1 Case study in Oyama elementary school- Japan 47

4.2.2 Case study in Tan Nhut secondary school- Vietnam 48

4.2.3 Case study of Greenschool program in Hanoi 51

4.2.4 Evaluation of pupil’s awareness among 3 case studies 59

4.3 Conclusion and recommendation 61

REFERENCES 64

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: In-depth interview information 10

Table 3.1: Generating capacity by power company 12

Table 3.2: Expected power capacity in 2020 and 2030 (Mw) 13

Table 3.3: The demand of electricity transmission grid expansion 14

Table 3.4: Sub-targets for Renewable Energy 16

Table 3.5: Supporting mechanism for solar power systems in Vietnam 17

Table 3.6 Solar power purchasing price by April 2020 19

Table 3.7: Trend of power generation mix in Japan 22

Table 4.1: Number of schools installed RE facilities 29

Table 4.2: The outline of National Curriculum teaching about Electricity in General and science class for elementary pupils 30

Table 4.3: Integrated content of energy education in social studies and science subjects in elementary and secondary schools 32

Table 4.4: Training steps for Green star club 36

Table 4.5: Green school program syllabus 41

Table 4.6: Results of in-depth interview with 3 teachers managing Green Star Club from Trung Hoa, Yen So and Pascal Secondary School 56

Table 4.7: Pupil’s awareness among 3 case studies assessment 59

Table 4.8: SWOT analysis 62

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1: Generating capacity till the end of 2018 12

Figure 3.2: Vietnam electricity market 14

Figure 3.3: Electricity grid and company in Japan 20

Figure 3.4: Trend mix of primary supply in Japan 20

Figure 3.5: Top 10 electricity in consuming countries 21

Figure 3.6: Electricity consumption in Japan from 2009-2018 21

Figure 3.7: Japanese power supply configuration in 2030 in percentage 23

Figure 4.1: 50/50 Method 39

Figure 4.2: “Green citizen school” textbook 40

Figure 4.3: Memory cards 40

Figure 4.4: Green citizen summer camp 2019 42

Figure 4.5: Experiment with mini solar panels 42

Figure 4.6: Technical information about installed solar panels in Tan Nhut Secondary School 49

Figure 4.7: Pupil’s perception of RE before having RE lessons 52

Figure 4.8: Forms of learning 52

Figure 4.9: Pupil’s Awareness after having RE lessons 53

Figure 4.10: Pupil’s comprehension level 54

Figure 4.11: Interested level of pupils of the lessons 55

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 The necessity of the research

Currently, renewable energy is widely developed and getting more concern of experts and scientists in the field of research all over the world In the context of climate change is becoming more serious, making a switch in consuming renewable energy

is one of the long-term sustainable solutions In order to make this solution more effective, education is a fundamental factor that should not be ignored At present, the topic of renewable energy education is not so popular and has not been mentioned

in various research, thus this theme has been first considered in research fields since the mid-1970s.In Vietnam, researches and practices of education of renewable energy have been initiated from 2000s To date, the remain issues from more than 20 years

of researches and implementations of renewable energy education still raise the necessity for this topic

Up till now, Education of renewable energy has been conveyed at graduate and post graduate level which is completely specialized Various courses on renewable energy were built at these two levels while this area is being seriously concerned and experiencing a breakthrough all over the world The concept of sustainable development linked with the foundation of renewable technology that is not only a field but also a positive lifestyle Thus, it is necessary that the concepts of sustainability should be integrated into the study progress at elementary and secondary level As a result, education of renewable energy in schools is the physical evolvement for this modern technology Especially, in recent years, extreme weather and disasters occur more frequently such as rising temperatures, heatwaves, droughts, hurricanes, rising sea levels and more concerning changes result from climate change, thus is important for children to be aware of the application of renewable energy which they could grow up with so that they are able to save their futures Early lessons

of renewable energy will encourage pupil’s creativity as well as create the foundation for the enhancement of teaching RE for pupils in Viet Nam Likewise, inevitably, the boom of RE may lead to the shortage of human resources in the field of renewable energy in the labor market For that reason, RE education for pupils in elementary

resources in the field of renewable energy in the future In RE education, the preparation of appropriate learning- teaching facilities and materials is a must for the successful introduction of energy-related concepts in curricula at elementary and secondary school It raises the question that which type of renewable energy is appropriate for using and introducing within schools In three case studies of this research, rooftop solar power is applied for RE education in primary and secondary schools in Japan and Vietnam Rooftop solar panel is a feasible option and can be installed as well as widely used in many schools Because of its versatile function and adaptability to plenty of different situations and could be applied for large-scale electricity generation and on a small scale in areas isolated from the network Applying solar energy in rural or areas where having difficulty in accessing electricity as well as being isolated from the network becoming suitable and easier thanks to the simplicity of this technology Currently, in Japan, the installation and use of solar power in schools is quite common while in Vietnam, this seems to be unpopular due to some barriers However, the explosion of solar panels in the period of 2019-2020 promises the utilization and introduction of rooftop solar panels in elementary and secondary schools

in Vietnam will become more and more popular extensive in the future

1.2 The research questions and hypotheses

no national curriculum for RE education

- Most schools in Japan have installed solar panels, thus students could learn through the use of solar power in their daily life and RE education is applied for all school nationwide

1.3 Research objectives and tasks

- Create questionnaire survey via google form

- Prepare questions to interview organizations / individuals involved

- Processing, analyzing data after survey, interview

- Draw graphs/charts illustrating the survey results

1.4 Objects and scope

- Research scope: In fact, due to actual research conditions and current situation of RE education in two countries, this research just aims to investigate teaching RE for pre-high schools pupils, including elementary and secondary schools Moreover, due to some limitations in studying, this research just could focus mostly

on accessing the syllabus, teaching activities and teaching methods of Greenschool program designed by Green ID

1.5 Research method

This research use 4 methodologies:

- Document analysis method

- Sociological methods include: questionnaire survey and in-depth interview

- Method of data analysis

- Method of charts

1.6 Research framework

Five steps of researching RE education in elementary and secondary schools in Vietnam and Japan:

- Step 1: Classifying factors related to RE education Limit and regulate the content

of RE education to match the research objective

- Step 2: Sum up relevant documents, research the contents that need to emphasis on

- Step 3: Assessing RE education in elementary and secondary school

+ Stage 1: Preparation: Prepare questions and survey, contacting schools, Green ID

+ Stage 2: Interview the principles of Oyama elementary school in Japan + Stage 3: Education and training division of BC district

+Stage 4: Interview with Green ID, Survey by online questionnaire with 3 schools participating in Green school program

- Step 4: Analyzing the results: Based on the results of interviews and surveys , analyzing data to assess students' perceptions of RE and using energy effectively and economically, realize the limitations and success of 3 case studies

- Step 5: Draw conclusion

1.7 Historical review of Renewable energy education

As the aforementioned in the introduction, renewable energy education was first considered in the 1970s “As early as in the year 1978, a lecture laboratory curriculum for teaching of alternate and renewable sources of energy within the secondary school industrial arts laboratory was developed at the Montclair State College in New Jersey, USA” [19] The objective of the course is to provide pupils with deep understanding

of the specific energies and its potential In addition, a number of organizations across the globe have also developed curriculum and school packages for elementary and secondary schools There is no doubt that education is one of the significant ways in solving society’s problem In other words, Renewable energy plays an important role

in tackling energy issues to obtain sustainable development In order to conduct the research, the concept of renewable energy education needs to be clarified There is not an exact definition for Renewable energy education but for simple explanation

“Renewable energy education”, in essence, is the treatment of various topics and

issues related to renewable energy resources and technologies as an independent subject” [1] In other words, the extensive aim of education for renewable energy is

to offer practical perception and comprehension of principles, concepts, realities, and technology in exploiting and making use of renewable energy Depending on each level, renewable energy should be informative, imaginative and analytical

There are various forms of courses for students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; online and offline professional training courses for experts / lecturers / engineers / scientists / policy makers in the energy sector that have been already mentioned However, teaching RE does not have a formal subject and curriculum, nor has it been really focused on and widely popularized at the school level (especially for elementary and junior high school students) However, in some countries, teaching RE in school is integrated in different projects or models In the 1990s, the 50/50 concept was introduced and piloted for the first time in German and gained some meaningful results By creating economic incentive both for schools and for managers of school buildings (usually local authorities), the design of this concept was to encourage energy-saving activities at school:

 50% of the savings come from energy efficiency measures taken by pupils and teachers is returned to school through a financial payout;

 50% of the savings is a net saving for the local authority that pays the energy bills

Another outstanding project named "Green school model" has been applied at school, including Vietnam “Green School is renowned as an inspiring model of learning”[8]

“The terms Green School and Green Education are often used interchangeably A simple activity such as introducing children to recycling can also be perceived as Green Education, since it instills awareness in people about the effects of their actions on the Earth and on other people” (Pancheri-Ambrose & Tristchler-Scali, 2013) [7] Depending on the conditions or circumstances in each country, the Green school model may not be exactly the same in terms of form or method of implementation, but all have the same goal of creating a green lifestyle for students, raising awareness and then changing pupil’s attitude and behavior Depending on the conditions or circumstances in each country, the Green school model may not

be exactly the same in terms of form or method of implementation, but all have the same goal of creating a green lifestyle for students, raising awareness and then changing pupil’s attitude and behavior Though, this research just focused on studying and assessing the Green school model carried out in Vietnam It is undeniable that education is a crucial contributor to the development of a sustainable society It is not only an essential factor of social change in raising people’s awareness of new developments and training for researchers/scientists improving the advanced technology but also builds the confidence for the public

to use the new product effectively Moreover, “Education, however, plays a central role in the development of new high technology industries” as well as in the development of the renewable energy industry” [2] As mentioned, there are various foreign as well as Vietnamese reports, articles and researches mentioned about renewable energy education, but with very limited numbers and it is difficult

to find some which focus on RE education in elementary and secondary school without any achievement Regarding the current situation of RE education worldwide, there is some common point about the limitations/ issues in conducting Renewable energy lessons:

 Lack of qualified human resources => Lack of skills

 Teachers do not know the educational principles behind sustainable development, nor their priorities and the objective of promoting a better and multifaceted understanding of the issues which our civilization faces [12]

 Lack of teacher training

 Preparation of appropriate educational materials for renewable energy education has not yet received the importance and attention it deserves [1] (including textbook, related learning equipment)

 Finance limitation

Up till now, the Government of Vietnam has issued laws and decrees related to the policies of effective and efficient use of energy as well as policies to mitigate climate change Particularly, in the National power development plan VII revised has pointed out a clear development pathway for RE Moreover, the Government has also issued

a Renewable Energy Development Strategy with the purpose of promoting the exploitation and consumption of RE In terms of the current situation of energy

education in Vietnam, at the moment, there has been research as well as projects to implement the integration of effective and efficient use of energy into secondary and high school subjects based on Official Document 1665 / BGĐT-GDTrH implemented

in 2010 by the Ministry of Education and Training In May 10th, 2019, a ceremony

of the Green School program was launched and at Trung Hoa Secondary School by Green Innovation and Development Centre (Green ID) and then the pilot project was conducted in Trung Hoa and Pascal secondary school With the purpose of raising pupils’ perception of clean energy and green lifestyle, the Green School program was supported by the 50/50 education model from Europe with activities aimed at advocating energy efficiency and environmental protection methods at school and in the household Each member of the Green Star Club acts as a young ambassador, a volunteer in the field

of energy with ideas to encourage sustainable development in their community The Green School project offers pupils opportunities to get the benefits of the energy model and find out the school's air quality in order to know environmental problems, giving up bad daily habits that affect natural resources and be prepared to take action and responsibility Despite some initial success, the Green school program still faces a number of difficulties and limitations, especially the lack of involvement of all students, lack of teacher resources, teacher training, and learning motivation because RE is not a compulsory subject Therefore, this research project is conducted to recognize the advantages and the disadvantages of RE education, thereby providing solutions and recommendations for teaching renewable energy at schools to be more complete and effective

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Document analysis method

Collect the secondary data from previous research related to the research topic to discover the status and the problem of introduction and education of renewable energy in elementary and secondary school in Ha Noi and Fukushima

2.2 Sociological research method

2.2.1 Questionnaire survey

Survey is conducted with pupils of Green star club of Yen So, Trung Hoa, Pascal secondary school with the major aim to access pupil’s perception of RE, including changes in their behavior after learning The survey is divided into 4 sections: General information, renewable energy; use energy effectively, feel about the green school program, including all 27 questions The survey was conducted directly (paper survey) with the help of the teachers in charge of the clubs of each school (Mr Khoi

is in charge of the Pascal school club, Ms Hanh is in charge of the Trung Hoa school club and Thao is in charge of the Yen So School Club) with some pupils of the Club from 3 secondary schools: Yen So, Trung Hoa and Pasacal Pupils taking the survey are systematic randomly selected from the list of students in clubs of 3 schools based

on their number, namely, pupils with odd numbers will be selected:

School Number of selected

pupils from the club Total pupils of each club

Unfortunately, due to the unexpected situation, it was impossible to conduct a survey with students directly, therefore, an online survey is organized instead The online survey form created by “Google form” will be sent directly to the email of students selected to take the survey, then all the information about the survey results will be automatically saved right after the survey is done

2.2.2 In-depth interview

Table 2.1 In-depth interview information

interview

1 18/11/201

9

Oyama primary school- Fukushima

Mr.Masahi

ro Takahashi Principle

- RE education at school

- Solar panels situation

2 22/11/201

9

Aeon Foundation

- Mr.Yutaka Itadani

- Mr

Kinosita Zyunzi

- Mr.Suzuki Shigenobu

- Manager -Cooperate citizen Dept

- Manager of Fukushima disaster project

- General information of Aeon

environmental foundation

- Solar panels donation in Tan Nhut secondary school in VN

3 16/12/201

9

Green ID office Ms Dao

Leader of Green school program

- Teaching methods

- Lesson plan/ curriculum

- Teaching material

- The progress of the project

4 6/12/2019

Education and training

Mr.Le Trung

Professional manager of secondary

- Information/ Current situation of solar facilities in

No Date Place Object Position Content of

interview

division of Binh Chanh district

school in Binh Chanh district

Tan Nhut secondary school

- Teaching RE for Pupils in Binh Chanh dítrict

- Pros and cons while managing the club

- Conception about Green school program/teaching

- Recommendation

In order to obtain more specific and accurate information, several interviews were conducted in Vietnam and Japan Detailed information about the interviewee, the position of the interviewee, the interview location and interview content are described

in Table 2.1

2.3 Method of data analysis

- Secondary data collected from relevant available documents is mentioned in the research for statistic, characteristic and trend description related to RE consumption / supply / use

- Data from the results of the surveys with pupils in Green star Club: due to the small number of students surveying, the statistics are processed via excel software after the result being automatically summarizes by Google form

2.4 Method of charts

After processing the data from the survey on Excel, charts/graphs are made to analyze and describe data

CHAPTER 3: RENEWABLE ENERGY IN VIETNAM AND JAPAN

3.1 Renewable energy policy in Vietnam and Japan

3.1.1 Energy and renewable energy policy in Vietnam

3.1.1.1 Current situation of electricity consumption in Vietnam

In Vietnam, EVN is the biggest power cooperation that provide the electricity power which owns 61.2% of the total power capacity of Vietnam, and the rest is owned by Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) and Vietnam national coal-mineral industries holding cooperation limited (TKV) – the 2nd big national corporations; independent power producers (IPPs) and other companies

Table 3.1 Generating capacity by power company Owner Capacity(MW) Percentage(%)

Figure 3.1 Generating capacity till the end of 2018 (EVN, 2019)

Up to now, EVN is increasingly improving the quality and services to provide enough electricity to the country with increasingly higher standards By the end of 2019, the total installed capacity of the system reached 54,880MW The scale of Vietnam's

electricity system registered the second in ASEAN (after Indonesia) and 23rd in the world; Electricity generation and purchasing of EVN in 2019 reached 231.1 billion kWh, 8.85% increasing compared to 2018 In particular, electricity produced from power plants of the parent company EVN is 41.55 billion kWh; Commercial electricity in 2019 reached 209.42 billion kWh, making an increase of 8.87% compared to 2018 Operating manufacturing and operating the electricity system as well as the electricity market has closely followed the load demand, optimally exploited the power sources in the system

According to the electricity development planning QHĐ VII revised toward 2030 and approved by the Prime Minister under Decision No.428/QD-TTg in March 18,

2016, the electricity demand forecast in 2020 is 235-245 billion KWh, in 2025 is 352-379 billion KWh and in 2030 is 506-559 billion KWh, equivalent to the rate

of average annual growth is 8.0-8.7% / year, much lower than in the forecast of the first electricity development planning According to the new forecast, to meet the demand, the system's power capacity will increase to 60,000 MW in 2020 and 129,500 MW in 2030

Table 3.2 Expected power capacity in 2020 and 2030 (Mw) (Prime minister, 2016) Fuel 2020 2030

Others (diesel, small scale

hydroelectric, biomass, waste) 4.290 9.195

Import 1.400 1.554

Total 60.000 129.500

The proportion of installation capacity of RE (excluding large hydro) is expected to increase to 9.9% in 2020 and 21% in 2030 In terms of electricity production, RE will

only reach 6.5% in 2020 and 10.7% in 2030 due to the lower capacity of the RE system compared to traditional power sources Together with the need of increasing generation capacity, the need of expanding the transmission network is also very large, specifically shown in Table 3.3

Table 3.3 The demand of electricity transmission grid expansion (Green ID, 2018)

Unit 2016-2020 2021-2025 2026-2030 500kv stations MVA 26.700 26.400 23.550 220kv stations MVA 34.966 33.888 32.750 500kv grids Km 2.746 3.592 3.714 220kv grids Km 7.488 4.076 3.435

“Since 2018, Vietnam’s competitive generation market has been operating in a transparent manner following relevant rules and regulations 90 power plants with a total installed capacity of 23,054 MW directly participated in the electricity market, accounting for 52.6% of the national power system Vietnam’s wholesale electricity market.(VWEM) has been piloted since 2018, in which PPAs of nominated power plants were located to PCs while specific trade volume and payment were contracted following market base Furthermore, EVN has been completing infrastructures of information and technology for operation of the VWEM in 2019.”

Figure 3.2 Vietnam electricity market (EVN, 2018)

3.1.1.2 Electricity supply policy in Vietnam

Electricity plays an important role in daily life as well as manufacturing activities of people, directly affecting socio-economic development Electricity production and consumption is a measure of life quality To ensure national energy security and

environmental protection, governments need to implement appropriate electricity planning and policies for development based on the circumstances and development situation of each country

Recognizing the importance of renewable energy as well as solar energy particularly During the period from 2000 to 2019, the National Power Development Plan VII was issued in 2011 as one of the important decisions for the development of renewable energy in Vietnam, beside some other significant decisions such as Green Growth Strategy and Renewable Energy Development Strategy of Vietnam toward 2030, vision to 2050 published in 2015.Not longer after the implementation of PD7 ,the government issued an adjusted version of PD7 called PD7 revised in 2016 The specific objectives of PDP VII revised are:

• Providing enough domestic electricity demand, meeting the socio-economic development goals of the country with average GDP growth of about 7.0% / year in the period of 2016-2030:

 Commodity electricity: about 235-245 billion kWh in 2020; about 352-379 billion kWh in 2025; about 506-599 billion kWh in 2030

 Produced and imported electricity: About 265- -278 billion kWh in 2020; about 400 -431 billion kWh in 2025 and about 572-632 billion kWh in 2030

• Prioritizing the development of renewable energy sources for electricity production; increase the proportion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources (excluding medium and large hydroelectricity, pump storage hydropower) to around 7% by 2020 and over 10% by 2030

• Building an identical power grid with flexible operation and high automation ability from the transmission to distribution stage; implementing the development of unmanned substations and substations with 50% existence of humans to improve labor productivity in the electricity industry

• Speed up the rural and mountainous electrification program to ensure that by 2020 most rural households will have access to and use electricity

In particular, in the outline of PDP7 revised, the development of renewable energy sources was noticed and emphasized, specially prioritizing three sources: wind, solar and biomass to increase the percentage of electricity produced from renewable energy PD7 revised aims to produce 800 MW of wind power by 2020 and 6,000 MW by

2030 The target of capacity was set for solar power is 850 MW in 2020 and 12,000

MW in 2030 As shown in Table 3.4 below, PDP 7 rev sets out new targets on Biomass and Solar Power, the latter of which was not specifically mentioned in the PDP 7 of 2011

Table 3.4 Sub-targets for Renewable Energy (share of elec prod and inst

capacity)

2020 2025 2030 Old New Old New Old New

Wind

Total capacity (MW)

1000 800 - 2000 6200 6000

Electricity

product (%)

0.7 0.8 - 1 2.4 2.1

Hydro

power

Total capacity (MW)

17400 21600 - 24600 - 27800

Electricity

product (%)

- 29.5 - 20.5 - 15.5

Biomass

Electricity

product (%)

0.6 1 - 1.2 1.1 2.1

Solar

Total capacity (MW)

- 850 - 4000 - 12000

Electricity

product (%)

- 0.5 - 1.6 - 3.3

To encourage the development of renewable energy, the Government has also introduced a support mechanism for wind and solar energy investment in the form of electricity price support (FiT) In terms of wind energy, the FiT price has been

applied since 2011 and at this moment, the FiT price was 7.8 USct/kWh However, due to the initial price did not stimulate the large investment capital or the development of the market, the tariff has recently been revised (the purchase price of onshore wind power is 8.5 USct /kWh and offshore wind power is 9.8 USct/kWh) In order to promote solar energy investment, in 2017, the Vietnamese Government introduced the FiT for grid-connected solar power systems and power offset mechanism for rooftop solar power systems in households or industrial-commercial constructions The following table 3.5 is a summary of the regulations issued in June

2017 under the Prime Minister's Decision and September 2017 under the Circular of the Industry and Trade ministry specifying the implementation of the Prime Minister's Decision after nearly two years of preparation and consultation

Table 3.5 Supporting mechanism for solar power systems in Vietnam (Prime

Minister, 2017) The approach of

 Term of power purchase agreement (PPA): 20 years

 Specific land use requirement:

the project will only apply FiT price if the land-use area is not more than 1.2 ha/MWp

 Corporate income tax: tax exemption (from the first year to the fourth year) and 50% tax reduction (from the 5th to the 13th year)

 Import tax: Apply the reduction of import tax rates (at different rates) depending on the type of imported goods, exemptions for goods that constitute fixed assets and cannot be produced domestically

 Free rental/land use: Free land rental or reduced land rental costs as a part of the license agreement

Rooftop solar

power

 The power compensation mechanism is mainly applied to the consumption of self-produced electricity (applied to two-way meters); applicable to rooftop solar systems or

"public" buildings

 offsetting of excess solar power (not include in current retail electricity contracts with EVN)

 Redundant electricity purchase price under the mechanism of

 Contract term: 20 years Combined use /

combining solar

energy in

agriculture

 Not mentioned / no specific regulations

 However: In reality, the demand for land use of connected solar power systems does not take into account the combined method (usually, the combined use system requires a land area of 2-3 ha )

grid-In power development plan VII, the Vietnamese government first mentioned about the development of nuclear energy, which contributes to reducing dependence on coal energy to reduce emissions Accordingly, Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant will be started constructing in 2020, but soon after in PD7 revised, the construction time for the nuclear power plant will be adjusted until 2028 Unfortunately, on November

2016, the National Assembly voted to stop the construction project of nuclear power plants in Ninh Thuan province due to economic conditions In terms of electricity prices, there is almost no changes in this part compared to the PDP7 except that the regulation on long-term marginal cost of the electricity system in 2020 is equivalent

to 8-9 US cents / kWh which was eliminated from PDP 7 revised It can be seen that although in the past 10 years, Vietnam's retail electricity price has increased from 4.1

US cents / Kwh in 2009 to 8 US cents / Kwh in 2019, it is still at the low point compared with some developed countries, especially when compared with Japan Vietnam affect the socio-economic development and sustainable development in Vietnam and this is also a major barrier to protect the environment and promote the exploitation and consumption of renewable energy in Vietnam

In the period of 2019,2020, there has been a rapidly and dramatically change on the Vietnam's renewable energy policy According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, after the Decision No 11/2017 / QD-TTg in 2017 on the mechanism of encouraging solar power investment and development, there were 135 projects with a total capacity of 8,935 MW As of the end of June 2019, nearly 4,500

MW of solar power has been put into commercial operation, contributing to ensuring

power supply for socio-economic development and living needs activities of the people, especially in the southern provinces and cities The booming of large-scale and concentrated solar projects in a number of potential provinces and cities has caused grid overload, while transmission grid construction has many difficulties in construction time as well as other regulations Therefore, on December 16, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Document No 9608 / BCT-DL to the People's Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces and Vietnam Power corporation (EVN) on suspending the proposal, Agreement for solar power projects under the support of Feed in Tariff (FiT) Accordingly, except for projects that have signed in the PPA (power purchase agreement) and are under construction and put into operation in 2020, the remaining projects and new projects will not continue to apply the FiT, but turn into opened, transparent and competitive bidding to reduce the price of electricity purchased from solar power projects The purchase and sale price

of solar power by April 2020 is as specified in Table 3.6

Table 3.6: Solar power purchasing price by April 2020

No Solar power technology Electricity price

3 Roof top solar power 1.943 8.28

3.1.2 Energy policy in Japan

3.1.2.1 Current situation of electricity consumption in Japan

In Japan, the management of electricity generation to allocate and supply electricity to the corresponding service areas is provided by 10 national electricity companies which is shown in figure 3.3 In addition, these 10 companies are closely connected with each other For example, power companies work together to exchange

or supply electricity to address emergency situations due to accidents or failures or peak demand in the summer However, by May 2016, the entire electricity retail market was completely abolished Instead of that, Japanese government encouraged the development of the competitive electricity market and went hand in hand with separating the functions of large companies according to their scope of operation,

such as manufacturing enterprises and supply enterprises The time limit for implementing these enterprises' separation plans is from 2018-2020

Figure 3.3 Electricity grid and company in Japan Japan is a developed country of which the industry is the main contributor to economic development, accounting for 30.2% of the country's GDP, thus electricity plays an essential role in manufacturing activities Japanese economic development

is mainly based on oil, coal, natural gas (LNG) sources and some other traditional energy imported from abroad because of unsupportive conditions of nature as shown

in figure 3.4 Although the country does not make a strong impact on soil, water and atmosphere through fossil fuel mining activities, fossil fuel transportation and consumption is a problem that needs to be solved The requirement is how to keep the energy supply to maintain the speed of economic development beside environmental protection

Figure 3.4 Trend mix of primary supply in Japan (Agency for Natural Resources

and Energy)

As shown in Figure 3.5, 3.6, Japan is among top 10 countries with the largest electricity consumption in the world and from 2007 to the present and “Power consumption in Japan has either declined or remained largely unchanged since reaching 1,007.7 TWh in 2007, and in fiscal 2016 came to 963.1 TWh This trend is attributable to several factors, including the slowing of economic growth, improved energy conservation, and demographic decline Until 2018, the total electricity consumption of Japan was 3.41EJ With an increase in the demand of consuming large amounts of electricity and the dependence on imported fossil fuels from abroad, how to increase the renewable energy ratio is actually a big challenge for the Japan government in implementing RE policies

Figure 3.5 Top 10 electricity Figure 3.6 Electricity consumption

in consuming countries in Japan from 2009-2018

to climate change Therefore, recognizing that nuclear energy development is a reasonable way to reduce GHG, Japanese government has decided to focus on developing this type of energy Following the historic earthquake in March,2011 in Fukushima, the remaining nuclear reactors were closed waiting to be tested by the NRA (Nuclear regulation authority) under the new nuclear safety regulations, which

was made right after the disaster established in 2012 This is also the reason why the rate of consumption of nuclear power decreased significantly after this incident

Table 3.7 Trend of power generation mix in Japan (METI and ISEP)

Specifically, Table 3.7 shows that the rate of nuclear power production has dropped

6 times in 2012 - just 1 year after the Fukushima earthquake (from 9.1% in 2011 to 1.5% in 2012) and still kept the downward trend in the following years and slightly increased to 1.7% in 2016 Renewable energy, on the other hand, has grown double

in five years, about 10% in 20110 to about 15% in 2016 The total capacity of the electricity generated by renewable electricity (except for large scale hydropower) throughout the country also increased from 20 million kw in 2011 to 58 million kw

in 2016.According to the prediction, the Japanese electricity structure will have significant changes By 2030, the type of energy supply in Japan (in percentage) with the total electricity generation of 1065 billion kWh is shown in figure 3.7 As illustrated, the renewable energy supply will increase to 24% (including hydroelectricity) In addition to developing renewable energy, the Japanese government also restored and redeveloped nuclear energy, leading to a sharp increase

in the proportion of nuclear energy supply from 1.7% in 2016 to 22% in 2030 Meanwhile, the supply of fossil fuel (including coal, natural gases, petroleum) will sharply decline, from 83.5 % in 2016 to 56 % in 2030

Figure 3.7 Japanese power supply configuration in 2030 in percentage (METI) The reason for the increase in the proportion of renewable energy supplies since the Fukushima earthquake was due to the renewable energy price support mechanism Since 2008, Japanese government has implemented a policy to support home-loans using renewable energy with a maximum repayment period of 10 years, in which, for those who have house renovating, switching to solar energy, the maximum amount

of loan is up to 5 million Yen, equivalent to nearly 5,000 USD In addition, the Government of Japan has purchased electricity produced from solar energy at a higher price than the market price and reduced the price of solar panels In August 2011, Japan issued the Price support Law (FiT) for purchasing renewable energy, encouraging people to produce their own solar PV at home to build large, concentrated solar power centers The FiT allows the support for the price of electricity generated from solar energy if private businesses want to invest

Specifically, the Government buys electricity generated from solar energy at a higher price than the market price, about 40 Yen / kWh (0.50 USD / kWh) for projects with

a 10 kW- capacity or more For projects with capacity less than 10 kW, the purchase price is about 42 yen/kWh (0.53 USD/ kWh) In 2016, the Japanese government spent about 2.3 trillion yen (approximately US $ 20.5 billion) to support the acquisition of solar power at a high price Attractive policy of Japanese Government has attracted a large number of investment projects in renewable energy, of which the most popular

is solar energy From 2011 to 2014, the installed capacity of solar PV in Japan increased sharply from 5,000 MW to 25,000 MW Till 2019, there have been about 2.4 million customers (including households, businesses ) installing rooftop solar

PV in Japan Table 3.8 shows the details of the RE purchasing price support mechanism

Table 3.8 FIT tariff in JYP/kWh, excluding consumption tax, after FY2016

(METI)

3.1.2.2 Energy policy in Japan

In July 2018, Japan approved the fifth energy development strategy plan with a vision

to 2030 and 2050 Accordingly, Japan has oriented energy development strategy based on the principle of 3 E + S, (Safety, Energy Security , Environment, Economic Efficiency) This principle shows that Japan is aiming to establish a sustainable energy supply and demand structure and reduce economic burden to create an eco-friendly economy To solve this problem, policymakers have specified the characteristics of each energy source throughout the supply chain, categorized the location, and outlined development policy directions that match the pros and cons of each and then determine their contribution to the national energy structure as below:

+ Geothermal, hydropower, nuclear power, coal power are base-load power sources, which can operate stably and at low cost regardless of the time of day or night

+ Thermal power from liquefied gas is an intermediate power source, low cost, capable of responding flexibly and quickly to electricity demand

+ PSH (pumped-storage hydroelectricity) is considered as the peaking power source (peaking power source) has a large generation capacity, which can control generation according to electricity demand despite high production costs at high load times (PSH requires large power sources to pump water back into the lake when the load is low)

+ Japanese government is also proposing various measures to establish the foundation for renewable energy to develop and become one of the main electricity sources, reaching the rate of 21% by 2020

On that basis, Japan has a multilayered and diversified flexible energy demand structure, which not only avoids excessive dependence on one type of energy but also makes use of the power from different sources of energy In this new structure, nuclear power "is an important base load source that contributes to long-term stability" and "a feasible option for Japan to cut down carbon emissions," thus a necessary solution for nuclear power development is needed to achieve 20% to 22%

supply-of total electricity production by 2030 To achieve this goal, Japan is continuing to restart nuclear power plants as well as continuing to rebuild some new nuclear furnaces in the construction projects which were stopped after the accident in Fukushima Although developing nuclear energy is a useful solution in reducing GHG, it also may bring a large potential risk Japan is a country often suffer from high risk of natural disasters due to its geographical features, and if a devastating natural disaster like 2011 occurs again, it also means that nuclear plants are at risk of being destroyed This will surely bring tremendous and terrible consequences, directly impact on the people and socio-economic development, especially the environmental consequences that take a long time to recover The nuclear plant explosion has only been around for nearly 10 years and the Japanese government is

still trying to take actions to get over the consequences, thus the structure energy should be considered to ensure long-term safety and sustainability

Through the reform of electricity structure, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan also wants to encourage the diversity of the parties involved in the country's electricity market as well as the interaction between the parties Market entry of new suppliers, including from non-energy sectors, as well as by local governments, non-profit organizations engaged in power supply and demand management services not only increase investment in energy but also promote the use

of energy saving, efficiency and technological innovations such as the use of artificial intelligence This is even expected to contribute to restoring the development of each region, such as creating a new local industry

3.1.3 Impact of energy policy on RE education

It is clear that the differences between the energy policies of Vietnam and Japan have led to differences in current situation of RE education In detailed, the differences of Vietnamese and Japanese Energy policy are demonstrated in table 3.9:

Table 3.9 Comparison of energy policy of Vietnam and Japan

Vietnam Japan Decision/ Decree PD7 revised, RE

development strategy

5th strategic energy plan

Electricity market Monopoly Liberal

FiT price Low price (0.0935$)

Stop FiT from December

16th,2019 => open, transparent and competitive biding

load power + Thermal power from

liquefied gas:

intermediate power source + PSH (pumped-storage hydroelectricity) : peaking power source + RE :will be main electricity sources, reaching the rate of 21%

by 2020

Through the energy policy of Japan, it can be seen that Japanese government has a great emphasize in RE development Thanks to the advantage of the energy policy, the Renewable energy consumer market is more common and popular in Japan Unlike Vietnam, Japan's electricity market is a gradually opened Before 2016, like Vietnam, the Japanese electricity market was monopolized by 10 national electricity companies By April 2016, however, liberalization provided an opportunity for individuals and businesses to freely select their electricity suppliers between retail companies or 10 national power companies while in Vietnam EVN is still the monopoly power company of electricity market More specifically, consumers (individuals and businesses) can choose and consider the price of electricity, the type

of electricity they want to buy, such as the percentage of solar power or nuclear power

it contains In addition, Japanese government made a great effort to support renewable energy purchases through FiT This support has brought about positive changes for Japan, paving the way for boosting the supply and use of electricity generated from renewable energy Particularly, the development of renewable energy including solar energy in Japan has facilitated in purchasing and installing solar panels more widely

in schools, which is the foundation for the effective RE education at school This also means that pupils have the opportunity to change their habits and behaviors in using renewable energy in their daily lives In Vietnam, from 2000 to 2016, the government's attention and encouragement causing the rise of RE market But due to

a number of difficulties and problems such as the relatively high initial investment cost, lack of participation and strong support from financial institutions; the market for solar power products and services is quite diversified but there are no specific technical standards, making it difficult for individuals and businesses who want to invest, thus the installation of rooftop solar system at schools has not been yet common, except for a small number of schools that receive funding from NGOs or power companies, etc However, dramatically growth of RE in the period of 2019-

2020 may bring more advantages for the installation of rooftop solar power in schools

in the near future

CHAPTER 4: AWARENESS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY OF PUPILS IN

VIET NAM AND JAPAN

4.1 Current situation of RE education in Vietnam and Japan

In Japan, the substantial development of renewable energy is one of the great advantages that impulses the installation of RE facilities at schools more popular, contributing to the introduction and education of RE for pupils According to the survey of MEXT, by May,2018 there were 10657 elementary and secondary schools installed and introduced Solar generation facilities Of all the RE facilities, solar system is the most popular, as shown in Table 4.1

Table 4.1: Number of schools installed RE facilities

In addition, the Ministry of education, culture, sports, science and technology has built National Curriculum for teaching RE for elementary level pupils In fact, there

is no specific class or subject to teach RE, however RE lessons are integrated into the General class (“Sougou class) and science class In particular, the content of educational lessons focuses largely on the topic of solar energy (The detail is in table 4.1) Although not all schools have the conditions to apply and follow the curriculum

to teach pupils, it still has an advantage in changing pupils' behavior in using sustainable energy as they could use and access solar power in daily life

Contrary to Japan, in Vietnam, the installation of a school RE facility is unpopular,

as a result, pupils do not have the opportunity to know and use RE every day, only some exceptions get financial support from NGOs organizations or power corporations This is undoubtedly a disadvantage in RE education for Vietnamese