PNE from Germany; Enterprize Energy from UK; Orsted, COP, CIP from Denmark are the renewable energy giants who have committed to pour more than 35 billion USD for offshore wind power projects in Vietnam. However, the above figure does not fully reflect the huge potential of the wind source in our waters and its attractiveness to foreign investors.
The potential is nearly 8 times the total electricity capacity of the country
The geographical location in the area with two alternating wind seasons helps Vietnam have high wind speed, blowing stably all year round. Many studies have shown that the average annual wind speed at an altitude of 100m in the seas of Vietnam can reach from 9-10m/s, most concentrated in the southernmost central region.
In addition, the sovereign sea area of about 1 million square kilometers also helps to expand the wind potential across the region. According to a study by the Danish energy agency (DEA) sent to the Ministry of Industry and Trade in 2020, Vietnam has the capacity to exploit a total of 162GW of offshore wind power. The above study is based on the conditions that exclude areas of navigation of navigational channels; conservation areas, banned from exploitation; oil and gas fields; severe winds and earthquakes.
Another common metric frequently used by professionals is from the World Bank's Energy Management Support Program. Based on wind maps at an altitude of 100m and within 200km of the sea to the shore, combined with seabed topographic survey data from GEBCO, Vietnam is concluded that there is a technical wind potential of 599 GW. Compared to the total installed capacity of the country's power source in 2021, which is 76,620MW, the above figure is 7.8 times higher.
Map of offshore wind power engineering potential in Vietnam
In addition to the wide sea, with a coastline of over 3200km through 28 provinces and cities, many localities in our country can develop offshore wind power. By the end of 2021, when the Draft Power Plan 8 was being built, 18 coastal localities registered with the Ministry of Industry and Trade up to 96 offshore wind power projects with a total capacity exceeding 156GW. This indicates that the need to mobilize resources to develop wind power from the sea across Vietnam is very large. In which, Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan are the places where 10 or more projects have been registered. Currently, this area is also building the first offshore wind power plants, including the 3,500MW La Gan project and the 3,400MW Thang Long project.
In fact, Vietnam has experienced in international cooperation in building and operating many wind power plants on the sea surface in nearshore areas such as Bac Lieu wind power (Bac Lieu province), Dong Hai 1 wind power plant (Tra Vinh province). Vinh). The domestic professional and technical team has had time to accumulate and transfer science and technology for offshore operations.
Construction site of Trung Hai 1 wind power plant in the waters of Tra Vinh province (photo source: Trung Nam Group)
In recent years, many ports along the coast of Vietnam have been expanded and upgraded in terms of cargo handling capacity and warehouse area, such as at Van Phong (Khanh Hoa); Cai Mep New Port (Ba Ria - Vung Tau); Dung Quat (Quang Ngai); Port clusters in Hai Phong, Quang Ninh;... These are the prerequisites to support the importation and transportation of super-heavy and super-long components of wind turbines. In addition, the system of 4,000 islands and archipelagos stretching from the North to the South can play an important logistics role when implementing projects at sea, or become a shelter whenever officials and workers work abroad. sea.
Power planning 8 opens the way
The scenario of developing electricity for the whole country from now to 2045 according to the orientation of the Draft Power Master Plan 8 will witness a spectacular breakthrough of offshore wind power. Accordingly, the draft targets that Vietnam will have the first 7,000 MW by 2030, accounting for 5.8% of the country's capacity. This number in 2045 will increase to 64,500 MW, equivalent to 17% of the national electricity supply at that time. Thus, the growth rate of offshore wind power in the whole period of 2030 - 2045 will reach 921.4%.
In comparison, the increase of solar power and wind power onshore and near shore in the same period also reached only 586.2% and 410.9% respectively. The above expectation shows that Vietnam's policymakers are considering offshore wind power as one of the strategic investment directions of the power sector to achieve the goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 as committed at COP 26.
The cost of a standard 12MW offshore wind turbine costs up to $ 10.1 million (photo source: Siemens Gamesa)
To realize all the goals set out in the Power Plan 8 in general, Vietnam needs about 107.1-146.5 billion USD of capital in the period 2021-2030; to the period 2031-2045 is 225.5-345.9 billion USD. In particular, investment for offshore wind power plants usually costs no less than 10 billion USD/project, lasting for 6-8 years.
In the draft Power Plan 8, the Government assigned the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop specific preferential mechanisms to attract international resources. Previously, the National Strategy for Renewable Energy Development in 2016 and the Prime Minister's Decision on the mechanism to support the development of wind power projects in Vietnam in 2011 also mentioned this issue.
According to current regulations, at the beginning of the project, offshore wind power investors of Vietnam will be completely exempt from import taxes, fees, and environmental protection fees to facilitate the introduction of new equipment. the world's most advanced in the domestic market. In addition, the projects will also be partially funded with low interest rates from the Vietnam Development Bank; Corporate income tax will also be exempted or reduced for the first 15 years since taxable income is generated.
In the vision of Power Plan 8, the South Central region will be an offshore wind power center with an expected installed capacity of 30,500MW.
At the output, Power Master Plan 8 has also prepared a power purchase option to combine offshore wind power with green hydrogen or ammonia production. The electricity purchase price will be calculated according to the supporting electricity tariff (FIT) in the new period being developed by the relevant ministries and branches. In the latest renewable energy support tariff (now expired), offshore wind power has the highest price at 9.8cent/kWh.
With the experience of previous countries, in order to promote offshore wind power development and create confidence for investors in the early stages, such supportive policies are essential. Therefore, the prospect of wind power projects in Vietnam has access to quality raw materials; The world's leading modern construction and operation techniques are very open./.
