Vietnam’s offshore wind power capacity will increase 36 GW by 2045, according to the latest draft of the Power Development Master Plan VIII.
It will increase to 4 GW by 2030, 10 GW by 2035, 23 GW by 2040. Offshore wind power will account for some 2.6 percent of the total electricity generation capacity in 2030 and 10.8 percent in 2045. Offshore wind power farms will be located mainly in the north and the south of the country.
In the previous draft of the plan, the Ministry of Industry and Trade had set a target of lifting offshore wind power capacity to 2-3 GW, or 1.5-2 percent of the total, by 2030.
At a meeting held to discuss the latest draft Friday, Mathias Hollander, senior manager of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said Vietnam can have an offshore wind power capacity of 5-10 GW by 2030. The country’s offshore wind power generation has an efficiency of over 50 percent, similar to that of hydroelectricity, he noted.
According to GWEC calculations, Vietnam will have to invest $10-12 billion for the first 4-5 GW of offshore power wind capacity, but the wind is an infinite source, so the country will not have to keep feeding wind power farms as it does with coal or gas-fired plants.
Meanwhile, the unit cost for 1,000 kWh of electricity generated by an offshore wind power farm is around $83, down from $255 in 2010. It is expected to further drop to $58 by 2025.
With a coastline of 3,260 km, low sea levels, and high wind speeds (7-10 meters per second at a height of 100 meters), Vietnam is an emerging offshore wind power magnet in Southeast Asia, experts say.