Northern Vietnam province seeks offshore wind power project

Vietnam’s northern province of Nam Dinh has urged the Central Party Committee to help facilitate including an offshore wind power project in the country’s power development plan (PDP).

Nam Dinh province delivered the suggestion during a working session in mid-January with Party General Secretary To Lam.

Last Sunday, To Lam requested the Central Party Committee Office to send the suggestion to relevant authorities to process, on the basis of “instantly resolving” the issue to facilitate Nam Dinh’s growth.

Other suggestions of Nam Dinh are to add three projects to the PDP, namely Nam Dinh 1 and Nam Dinh 2 LNG-fired power plants and Nam Dinh 2 500-kV transformer station.

Nam Dinh authorities also proposed a coal-to-LNG conversion as feedstock for BOT Nam Dinh 1 thermal power project. The use of LNG as an eco-friendlier fuel is in line with local citizens’ demand, provincial authorities noted.

In 2021, Nam Dinh province proposed an offshore wind power plant in the Giao Thuy beach. The project can reach a capacity of 2,000 MW, 3,000 MW, 3,500 MW, and 3,500 MW in four phases, or 12,000 MW in total. A 500 kV grid is also recommended to serve the offshore wind power project.

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.

Many businesses have proposed offshore wind power projects in Vietnam, such as Australia’s Corio with 1,000 MW, Germany’s PNE with 2,000 MW, Denmark’s CIP with 3,500 MW.