Danish energy giant Orsted 'pauses market development activities' in Vietnam

Denmark’s Orsted has "paused market development activities in Vietnam," Per Mejnert Kristensen, its senior vice president and Asia-Pacific president, said at the wind power giant’s Capital Market Day event last Thursday.

The executive disclosed the information while reviewing Orsted’s strategy in Asia-Pacific, noting that Vietnam is still "an important supplier market".

Orsted will bid selectively and deselect opportunities without sufficient values, as it had already deselected auctions in Massachusetts, Taiwan, and markets in France, Vietnam, he added.

Citing an example, Kristensen said Orsted “did not bid in the previous round in Taiwan” due to limitations set by regulations, including project size and content restrictions.

On a global scale, at the event, Orsted announced targets to install 50 GW of renewable energy and invest DKK475 billion ($68.52 billion) in 2023-2030. The giant also highlighted the market outlook for Asia Pacific, including tens of GW from offshore wind power in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia.

In August 2022, Orsted and Vietnam’s T&T Group had proposed two offshore wind projects of 5 GW in capacity off the coast of Ninh Thuan province. Development of the 3-GW Ninh Thuan 1 project was expected to commence between 2029 and 2033 via three stages, with 1 GW for each. The 2-GW Ninh Thuan 2 project would be developed between 2030 and 2037 in two stages, also with 1 GW for each.

Sebastian Hald Buhl, Orsted’s country manager in Vietnam, had said at a business dialog in September 2022 that the company expected to generate 2 GW as its initial offshore wind power in Vietnam before 2030, spending $5.5 billion and creating 25,000 jobs.

He had added that a competitive mechanism for projects was needed in the market, so the government should come up with an effective bidding mechanism to support major offshore wind goals set for 2035.

Vietnam’s National Power Development Plan for 2021-2030 (PDP VIII), which was approved last month, features 6,000 MW of offshore wind power.

In May, Petrovietnam Technical Services Corp (PTSC) signed a contract to build offshore wind farm foundations for Orsted, becoming the first Vietnamese business to receive a mass order for offshore wind power equipment. The technical arm of the national oil and gas group, Petrovietnam, will manufacture 33 suction bucket foundations for turbine operation following an eco-friendly design developed by the Danish energy giant.