Denmark’s CIP seeks to jointly develop Vietnam’s first offshore wind farm

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), a major Danish renewable energy developer, is seeking the Vietnamese government’s approval to jointly develop the first offshore wind power project in Vietnam.

CIP founder and senior partner Jakob Baruël Poulsen made the proposal at a recent meeting with the Vietnamese delegation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF), CIP said in a statement.

The Vietnamese delegation featured Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, and Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan.

At the meeting in Davos, Jakob Baruël Poulsen said CIP would seek to become the foreign partner in the project, alongside one Vietnamese state-owned enterprise (SOE).

With CIP’s extensive experience in delivering large-scale offshore wind projects, CIP could contribute financially and technically to Vietnam’s offshore wind power development and support the country’s ambitious goals for green energy transition, the executive added.

The Vietnamese side highlighted CIP’s extensive experience and technical knowledge in developing large scaled offshore wind farms and welcomed CIP’s investment in Vietnam. The delegation encouraged CIP to continue working with Vietnamese SOEs to study offshore wind projects.

CIP entered Vietnam in 2019 with the 3.5 GW La Gan offshore wind farm project in Binh Thuan province as its first project.

In March 2024, CIP signed a memorandum of understanding with Petrovietnam to further collaborate in renewable energy and offshore wind power.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) says in its August 2024 report that Vietnam has not initiated any true offshore wind projects and has only developed intertidal wind projects; thus the target of installing 6 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030 under its latest power development plan (PDP VIII) presents considerable challenges.