Vietnam ranks 10th on global renewables FDI league table

Vietnam was among the top 10 countries in terms of attracting foreign investment in green power technologies in 2022, fDi Intelligence said on Tuesday.

fDi’s inaugural Global Renewable Energy Leaders ranking shows efforts are being made to embrace the green transition worldwide, and Vietnam came 10th on the list.

The UK was the most successful country in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in green energy in 2022, according to the newly released ranking. It looks at three main indicators - the number of announced FDI projects, their capital expenditure, and estimated jobs creation, all sourced through greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets - to identify the world’s most successful renewable energy FDI destinations.

fDi Intelligence is a central part of the FDI Intelligence portfolio of investment products and services from the Financial Times.

The ranking takes into account solar, wind, hydrogen, biomass, and small hydro projects. In terms of wind power, Vietnam's capital expenditure in 2022 was exceeded only by the UK.

From second to ninth in the ranking were Egypt, Australia, Spain, the U.S., Italy, Morocco, Germany, and Poland.

In Vietnam, domestic clean energy company TGS started the construction of the country’s first green hydrogen factory on March 30 in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, with the total cost estimated at VND8 trillion ($341 million).

The project developer, TGS Tra Vinh Green Hydrogen, expects to put the 21-hectare factory site online after two years, initially producing 24,000 tons of green hydrogen and 195,000 tons of oxygen a year, and providing direct jobs for 300-500 local residents. ThyssenKrupp, a giant German industrial company, last year agreed to cooperate with the Ho Chi Minh City-based TGS to produce green hydrogen and green ammonia in Tra Vinh to help Vietnam reach its net-zero 2050 goal.

In wind power developments, Danish investors are among the leaders in Vietnam. They include global giants Orsted and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Orsted expects to generate two gigawatts from offshore wind power in Vietnam before 2030, spending $5.5 billion and creating 25,000 jobs.

CIP is hoping to develop large-scale offshore wind power projects and transmission lines in partnership with State utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN). At present, it is developing the 3.5GW La Gan offshore wind power project in the south-central province of Binh Thuan.

Vietnam has seen major growth in its installed solar power capacity in recent years, but successful grid integration of different renewable energy sources is still problematic.

Renewable energy projects in the country that missed the government's preferential feed-in-tariffs (FiTs) scheme will not enjoy profitability under the new price frame set by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, leading broker VNDirect Securities said in a recent report.

These projects are often referred to as "transitional" renewable energy projects. Under the new price bracket, issued under Decision 21 dated January 7, 2023, the maximum purchase price for transitional solar power projects is VND1,185-1,508 (5.0-6.4 U.S. cents) per kWh, depending on the type and excluding VAT. Meanwhile, the ceiling price for transitional wind power projects is VND1,587-1,816 per kWh (6.8-7.7 U.S. cents).

VNDirect analysts argued that the new price frame is the first sign of rescue for transitional renewables developers as their projects have yet to be utilized since the FiT mechanism expired in November 2021.