Development of offshore wind energy in Vietnam

Vietnamese and foreign representatives discussed today during a consultation meeting organized in Hanoi, virtually and in person, the experiences to promote the potential of offshore wind energy in the country.

Speaking at the meeting, Truong Duc Tri, deputy head of the General Administration of Seas and Islands of Vietnam, reported that at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26), the Indochinese nation committed to bringing net emissions to “zero” by the middle of the 21st century.

Vietnam regards the development of offshore wind energy as one of the important steps for the transition from fossil to green and clean energy, in order to fulfill its words released at COP26, he reiterated.

However, there are still many difficulties and obstacles in the process of evaluating the wind measurement, geological and topographic survey proposal files at sea; furthermore, Vietnam has no regulations on providing survey data for offshore wind power projects to state management agencies, he noted.

At the same time, Sirpa Jarvenpaa, director of the Southeast Asia Energy Transformation Fund, said Vietnam plans to develop about seven gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030 and 54 gigawatts by 2045.

To achieve the goal, Vietnam needs to conduct surveys in offshore areas to identify possible locations for such energy development, she stressed.

At the same time, she urged paying attention to granting licenses to the units concerned to be able to conduct surveys in a sufficient marine area, with a view to supporting the Vietnamese Government in making decisions on suitable areas for the development of wind energy in high seas.

While Sebastian Hald Buhl, representative of the T&T and Orsted consortium (Denmark), considered it necessary to guarantee the efficient use of Vietnam’s offshore wind resources by applying prequalification criteria when approving and granting study permit certificates in the waters.

The Southeast Asian state’s offshore wind power industry will not be able to develop if investors are not given a research license, he said.

On the occasion, the participants discussed the development strategy of this matter in Vietnam until 2030 and with a vision towards 2050 and solutions to efficiently exploit the potential of offshore wind energy in the Indochinese nation.