Liming Qiao, head of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) Asia, told VIR’s Nguyen Thu about the challenges and regulatory needs for a true offshore wind sector in Vietnam.
Offshore wind has massive potential in Vietnam, with the World Bank Group estimating nearly 600GW of technical fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind resource potential. Vietnam currently does not have any true offshore wind projects, as the installed capacity currently is only nearshore and intertidal, and so the 530MW figure would still account for nearshore and intertidal projects and not true offshore wind capacity.
Thus, there is an urgent need to differentiate intertidal projects from true offshore, as the two technologies are very different from each other, from the turbines deployed and foundation design, to the scale of the electricity output, cost profile, and risks involved in the development of projects.
Overall, the GWEC expects there to be over 5GW of offshore wind capacity installed in Vietnam over the next decade. Scaling-up this clean energy capacity will be critical for Vietnam, as the country’s energy demand is soaring and there is a looming challenge of increased power shortages over the next few years. The country therefore needs to urgently harness its incredible offshore wind resource to meet this growing energy demand, and provide greater energy security for the country through large volumes of renewable, indigenous energy.
Source: www.vir.com.vn
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