Mutual Learning for Renewable Energy Transitions between Central Europe and Southeast Asia

This project establishes a bilateral collaboration between the LIT Future Energy Lab at Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria) and Hanoi University of Science and Technology (Vietnam) to develop a comparative understanding of high-renewable energy transitions across Central Europe and Southeast Asia. Austria and Vietnam represent contrasting yet complementary pathways: Austria operates a mature, institutionally stable system, while Vietnam is rapidly expanding solar and wind under conditions of strong demand growth, emerging grid constraints, and evolving system planning. Leveraging these differences, the project co-develops an analytical framework assessing technical feasibility, economic efficiency, and social equity. It combines HUST’s expertise in power system engineering and renewable integration with JKU Linz’s strengths in energy economics, policy design, and social science. Through targeted mobility activities and joint workshops, partners will align modelling approaches, harmonize data strategies, and identify robust comparative indicators. The main outcome is a jointly authored scoping report outlining research pathways, methods, and data foundations on renewable energy systems. Beyond its immediate outputs, the project enables structured mutual learning. Austria’s experience with renewable policy design, market regulation, and address
ing distributional impacts in the energy transition informs Vietnam’s transition. At the same time, Vietnam’s experience with rapid renewable deployment under grid and flexibility constraints provides concrete lessons for Austria on integrating variable renewables, coordinating grid and storage investments, and adapting policy frameworks to faster system transformation. By integrating engineering and socio-economic perspectives, the project contributes to EU and
ASEAN priorities on clean energy transitions and just transition pathways, and prepares the ground for a competitive joint proposal under international funding schemes.