Vietnam is the only ASEAN country with large-scale offshore wind energy

Vietnam has the largest wind power potential in Southeast Asia, 200 times larger than the capacity of the Son La Hydropower Plant, and is also the only country in ASEAN with a large-scale offshore wind energy source. According to the World Bank, technically, Vietnam's offshore wind potential is about 599 GW.

Offshore wind generates a much higher source of electrical energy than onshore wind. In addition, it is possible to install offshore wind farms over large seas with little or no impact on residential areas. Therefore, the development of wind power and offshore wind power is being paid special attention to by the State.

Mr. Pham Nguyen Hung, Deputy Director of the Department of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Ministry of Industry and Trade said, "Developing wind power, offshore wind power and gradually forming a domestic industry in terms of installation, construction, Manufacturing equipment to increase autonomy and reduce costs is a major orientation of the Vietnamese Government in the coming years.

In the article "Vietnam offshore wind power attracts foreign investors," Nikkei Asia said, Vietnam has become an attractive destination for investment capital in renewable energy infrastructure.

In recent years, there have been many foreign investors participating in renewable energy projects in Vietnam such as Sumitomo, Renova (a company specializing in renewable energy), and Orsted of Denmark (an energy company specializing in renewable energy largest offshore wind volume in the world)...

Besides foreign enterprises, there are also Vietnamese names that are strongly developing wind power such as BIM Energy Holding (belonging to BIM Group), Trungnam Group, and T&T Group... Not only developing wind power. To serve domestic demand, Vietnamese enterprises also have the goal of further developing this renewable energy segment to export to foreign countries.

Such is the case of PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC). Recently, this business and Sembcorp Utilities Pte. Ltd. (SCU) also signed a cooperation agreement to invest and export electricity to Singapore from offshore renewable energy sources in Vietnam.

Discussing this issue, and sharing Government Information, PTSC General Director Le Manh Cuong said that in November 2022, PTSC and SCU signed a memorandum of understanding. After that, PTSC and SCU immediately started to discuss, agree and sign a joint development agreement to concretize the cooperation and proceed to award the agreement.

According to the content of the agreement, PTSC and SCU will cooperate to invest in an offshore wind farm in Vietnam with an initial capacity of 2.3 GW and export electricity directly to Singapore via a high-voltage underground cable sea.

At the present time, ASEAN countries are implementing a grid connection program. Singapore is also participating in Laos - Thailand - Malaysia - Singapore (LTMS) grid connection and has imported electricity from Laos via the LTMS grid.

Therefore, Mr. Cuong said that this will be an opportunity for relevant countries to participate as well as to be able to export clean electricity from Vietnam's offshore wind energy to other countries, bringing benefits to other countries. country and increase the investment efficiency of the project.

Regarding the project development roadmap, according to Mr. Cuong, an offshore wind power project usually takes at least 5-7 years of implementation before it can generate commercial electricity.

"Currently, we have submitted an application for a survey to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province. In case the relevant authorities support, create a legal corridor, and soon approve and allow it. If we can conduct surveys, exploit the sea, and export electricity, we will soon launch the project so that we can have commercial electricity by 2030," he said.