Vietnam redefines 'offshore' wind power as six miles, scraps depth details

Offshore wind power plants are defined as those with "turbines located six nautical miles or farther from the mean lowest waterfront for multiple years", according to the latest amendments to the Law on Electricity.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade considered suggestions from the Danish Embassy in Vietnam and Denmark’s offshore wind power developer Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) to adjust the latest version of the draft law, removing details about seabed depth for offshore wind power projects.

The Vietnam Business Forum, EuroCham, and CIP all proposed changes to the draft law’s Article 20 on adjusting timelines for projects. The original draft article stipulated that projects’ progress can only be changed in some cases, such as force majeure, slow progress on the part of authorities, and third-party issues.

Considering the suggestions, the latest draft law does not include Article 20.

Additionally, the ministry has adjusted rules regarding project transfers per CIP’s suggestions. Originally, offshore wind power investors would not have been able to transfer more than 49% of a project's investment or capital contributions. Authorities that had granted in-principle approval for projects would have been responsible for approving project transfers, too.

CIP’s suggestion is that offshore wind power investors cannot make transfers of more than 49% of their project investment or capital contributions to a third party that is not a co-investor in the project before it's operational. After the operational date, authorities that granted in-principle approval for projects will be responsible for approving project transfers, which can include third parties outside co-investors as buyers.

Under Vietnam's Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII) approved in May 2023, the country plans to increase offshore wind power capacity to 6 GW by 2030, envisaging this to increase to 70-91.5 GW by 2050, accounting for 4% and 14.3-16% of the total energy mix, respectively.

“No real offshore wind projects are likely to be built in Vietnam until the end of 2024-2028,” the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) said. In its Global Wind Report 2024, the council says that “a route-to-market strategy for offshore wind development is still to materialize.”