We have just started the third and last year of the second project with the An Giang province in the Mekong Delta in the south east part of Vietnam.
The start of our cooperation was in 2010 when a delegation from An Giang Province was invited by Swedish Energy Agency, SEA to a conference in Sweden where among others Solander Science Park was invited to present what was going on in Piteå in the area of renewable energy. Among other things the gasification project which MEWA was carrying out in Hortlax drew the attention and interest to Piteå. The dream in An Giang was and is to use rice husk as we use residues from the forest to produce electricity on a small scale.
ICLD, International Center for Local Democracy, a SIDA financed agency encouraged Piteå to make an application for a 1-year pre-study in order to see if there was an area linked to sustainable development where the two could meet and work together.
New Years’s Day 2011 a delegation from Piteå visited An Giang and later on a delegation from An Giang visited Piteå, an application was submitted and granted for a 3-year project, From Rice waste to Energy. Focus for an ICLD project is on developing Local Democracy and contribute to reduction of poverty. In this case the development of local democracy was by involving the target groups and among them rice farmers and encourage women to participate. One short term objective was to contribute to an increased awareness’ regarding climate change, sustainability and possibilities with turning rice waste into energy.
Read the whole report in the PDF-file down below
