Renewable Energy Development Toward Sustainable Development Goals in Vietnam: Status, Constraints, and Policy Implications

This paper examines how renewable energy development can advance sustainable development in Vietnam by strengthening energy security, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, and generating wider economic and social co-benefits. The study uses a qualitative desk-review method and triangulates recent official policy documents, sector statistics, and international analytical reports. The evidence shows that Vietnam has moved from ad hoc incentives toward a more structured transition framework through the 2022 NDC update, the 2024 Electricity Law, Decree No. 58/2025/ND-CP, and the revised Power Development Plan VIII together with its implementation plan. By 2024, the national power system reached 82,387 MW of installed capacity, of which renewable energy excluding hydropower accounted for 21,447 MW, while total power production and purchases reached 308,732 million kWh and renewable generation reached 39,641 million kWh. Household electrification reached 99.83%, indicating that the policy challenge has shifted from access expansion to system decarbonization and flexibility. Vietnam also has substantial renewable potential beyond hydropower, particularly in wind, solar, and marine energy such as wave resources, but these resources are still not being exploited efficiently. Nevertheless, transmission constraints, storage needs, human-resource shortages, infrastructure gaps, financing risks, technology limitations, and uneven implementation remain major bottlenecks. The paper concludes that Vietnam can use renewable energy as a lever for SDG 7, SDG 8, SDG 9, and SDG 13 if future policy prioritizes grid expansion, bankable market rules, stronger domestic capabilities in finance, infrastructure, technology, and skills, and a just transition approach.