Denmark and Vietnam are working on finding ways to further boost Vietnam's offshore wind development, which according to the Danish Energy Agency, has a potential of 160 GW offshore wind.
As part of the effort, the Danish Energy Agency and the Vietnamese Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority are preparing an Input to Roadmap report for offshore wind development in Vietnam.
The Danish Energy Agency and Vietnamese authorities on Tuesday organized a webinar to discuss the most important governmental steps to move the expansion of offshore wind forward.
Deputy Director-General of the Danish Energy Agency, Martin Hansen said: "The organization of the high-level offshore wind webinar is a testament to the extraordinary government-to-government energy partnership, Vietnam and Denmark have developed since 2013. I am delighted to see that cooperation and activities within offshore wind are on track despite the coronavirus pandemic. Vietnam has a huge potential for offshore wind, which could play a key role in the green transition of the country."
Per the DEA, the increasing electricity consumption, averaging 10% a year during the past decade and dependence on imported fossil fuels, has made Vietnam search for additional clean sources of power generation in its upcoming 10-year power development plan (PDP8).
The Danish Energy Agency has been engaged in providing support to the development plan, including through the Vietnam Energy Outlook reports.
With over 3.000 km of coastline and some of the best offshore wind conditions in South East Asia, Vietnam is at the forefront of most coveted prospective offshore wind markets, the DEA said.
The Danish Energy Agency and the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority of Vietnam (EREA) are preparing the Input to Roadmap report.
The Input to Roadmap consolidates the quantitative findings of the background analyses carried out - resource mapping and site selection, LCOE estimation and transmission grid analysis, among others - and supplements them with regulatory, consent and permitting, support scheme, supply chain and other critical elements to arrive at a set of recommendations aimed at kick-starting a successful offshore wind industry in Vietnam.
The final version is to be launched at a workshop in Hanoi on 9 September 2020.
160 GW potential in Vietnam, 29GW installed globally
The Danish Energy Agency has said that preliminary findings presented at today’s webinar emphasize that Vietnam has a technical potential of 160 GW. In comparison, there were approximately 29 GW offshore wind installed globally by the end of 2019. Denmark currently has 1.7 GW.
"Even after excluding sites that may ultimately prove not to be viable due to conflicts with other seabed uses or due to financial reasons, the potential for offshore wind along coastline remains very significant. Vietnam is the only country in the region that has implemented nearshore wind with 99 MW already installed, and the abundant wind resources and large pipeline potential have attracted strong interest from the offshore wind industry," the Danish agency said.
Back in 2013, Vietnam and Denmark entered a long-term cooperation agreement for the purpose of strengthening Vietnam’stransition to a low-carbon economy. It is financed by the Danish Climate Envelope and administered by the Danish Energy Agency.
The Danish Energy Agency cooperates with the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) in Vietnam through the joint Energy Partnership Programme (DEPP) between Vietnam and Denmark.
The program is currently in its second phase (DEPP II) running from 2017 to 2020 and covers long-term scenario modeling of the energy sector, the integration of renewable energy in the power grid and energy efficiency in the industrial sector.
DEPP III will be a five-year program (2020-2025) starting in November 2020. It will include an offshore wind component.
Two energy advisors are expected to take up secondment within the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade during DEPP III, complemented by an advisor with a focus on offshore wind who will be posted at the Danish Embassy in Hanoi.