Vietnam can add 2.2 GW offshore wind until 2027: GWEC

Vietnam can add 2.2 GW of offshore wind power, mostly intertidal projects, until 2027, according to the Global Wind Energy Council's (GWEC) Global Wind Report 2023.

In the report released Monday, the GWEC said mainland China will remain the largest contributor with 64 GW to be added in the next five years, followed by Taiwan with 6.9 GW, South Korea with 2.3 GW, and others.

The GWEC anticipated the global onshore and offshore installations of wind energy can reach 156.983 GW in 2027, including 23% from offshore wind power, 38% from China, 7% from Asia (excluding mainland China), among others.

The report pointed out that no onshore nor offshore wind projects reached commercial operation in 2022 although some turbines were installed at a few intertidal projects. The council clarified this is because the ceiling prices used by state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) as the cap for power purchase agreement (PPA) negotiation with renewable energy investors are not available until January 2023.

Now that the ceiling price are available, the GWEC expects some capacity to be commissioned in 2023 and 2024.

Per the GWEC report, 2.72 GW of onshore wind power was installed in Vietnam in 2021, raising the total to 3.1 GW in the year; while 779 MW of offshore wind power was installed in 2021, bringing the total figure to 874 MW in the year. As no new projects were recorded in 2022, the two total figures remained the same until end 2022.

The GWEC added that 90.6 GW of new wind power was installed in 2022, but only 77.6 GW was commissioned due to 13 GW of new installations in Vietnam and mainland China were not grid-connected.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade seeks to develop an auction framework for offshore wind but regulations on site surveying and marine spatial planning are unclear, the report stresses.