The proposed offshore wind power project in Binh Thuan province requires total investment of nearly 12 billion USD. (Photo: tinnhanhchungkhoan.vn) Binh Thuan (VNA) – The proposed offshore wind power project in the south central province of Binh Thuan will have a designed capacity of 3,400 MW and require total investments of nearly 12 billion USD, UK developer Enterprize Energy said.
According to Chairman of Enterprize Energy Ian Hatton, Ke Ga offshore wind power project will be developed in 600-megawatt phases. It will use 9.5 megawatt wind turbines initially, and more powerful ones are expected over time.
It will be carried out on an area of nearly 2,000 square kilometres, 20 kilometres offshore Ke Ga cape.
The project is expected by investors to create a new breakthrough for wind power development in Vietnam.
Under an agreement inked with its Vietnamese partners- Petroleum Equipment Assembly & Metal Structure (PVC-MS) and Vietnam-Russia Oil and Gas Joint Venture (Vietsovpetro), the two Vietnamese firms are in charge of the project’s design, construction, installation of offshore power transformation stations, and connection of underground cable and transmission grid.
Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Vestas Offshore Wind, a joint venture of Vetas Wind System A/S and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, will supply wind turbines.
Experts said that greatest challenge of the project must be the selling price of wind power.
The feed-in tariff (FIT) is 9.8 US cents per kWh for offshore wind power projects which become operational before November 2021 under the Government’s Decision No.39/2018/QD-TTg. However, the first phase of Ke Ga wind power farm will not begin operation until 2022, and the price of wind electricity is still indistinct, Ian Hatton said.
According to Deputy Director of the Electric and Renewable Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade Nguyen Van Thanh, as the project has not been added to the national power development plan, the selling price of wind power cannot be fixed.
Chairman of the Vietnam Energy Association Tran Viet Ngai said that competent authorities should give timely assistance to the project so that it can complete investment procedures soon, making contributions to increasing capacity of Vietnam’s power sector, especially when wind power is a clean energy which does not cause any harm to the environment.-VNA
VNA
