Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The UK’s Financial Timeson April 26 ran an article highlighting that the expansionof Vietnam’s wind and solar farms is proving crucial to powering its economicgrowth.
According to data from Irena, an inter-governmental renewable energyorganisation, Vietnam’s production from solar and wind increased 237 percentand 60 percent, respectively in 2020, raising the share of these sources to aquarter — almost a decade ahead of schedule, it wrote.
With an average speed of more than 10 metres a second,Vietnam’s territorial waters rank in the top 10 percent of the windiest placeson the planet.
The seas off the provinces of Binh Thuan and Soc Trang wheredevelopers plan to build multibillion-dollar offshore wind farms are alsorelatively shallow, with depths of 20 metres to 50 metres.
The author quoted Thu Vu, anenergy finance analyst at the Ohio-based Institute for Energy Economics andFinancial Analysis as saying that Vietnam’s renewable energy adoption isimpressive. The higher cost of offshore units relative toonshore or nearshore wind, the expert noted.
Ian Hatton, Chair ofEnterprize Energy, a UK-renewable energy company, said in order to reduce cost,Vietnam must improve its infrastructure, build substations, and laycables along the seabed for offshore production, or finding alternativesolutions. Enterprize is experimenting with converting wind energy andseawater to hydrogen.
He also noted an example of the dilemma facing low- andmiddle-income nations such as Vietnam. Accordingly, if they produce enoughenergy to meet demand without improving transmission infrastructure, additionalcapacity could be squandered.
But William Gaillard, Vice President of wind turbine manufacturer Vestas,believed that Vietnam has “shown a path for others to follow, adding that thecombination of an attractive feed-in-tariff with ambitious installation targetsand a transparent permitting process has been a critical factor in unlockingthis market./.
