Ea Nam - Dak Lak wind farm in Dak Lak province, in central Vietnam. Experts think the unresponsive transmission network is wasting billions of kWh of electricity capacity in the country. (Photo courtesy of Trungnam Group) According to preliminary surveys and assessments, Vietnam’s potential ofonshore wind power is about 217GW, and offshore wind power is over 160GW. Thefeature of offshore wind power is long operating hours and highefficiency.
Le Thanh Thanh, deputy director of Soc Trang Department ofIndustry and Trade, said: "The province has planned to develop 20wind farms including 18 farms being granted investmentcertificates with a total capacity of 1,345MW and two farmsbeing considered”.
Among 18 farms, 11 projects started construction in 2020 with a total capacityof 496.4MW. As of October 31, 2021, the last day of FIT price, four farmswere put into commercial use, he said, adding other projectswere also completed but could not be connected to the gridbecause the FIT pricing mechanism had expired.
Thanh told local media: "The province still has many locationsthat could develop farms. However, they have to wait for thePDP VIII (The National Power Development Plan for the2021-30 period, with a vision towards 2045) to be approved to have a basisfor proposing a new project."
In the southernmost province of Ca Mau, Chairman of the People's CommitteeHuynh Quoc Viet said: "Ca Mau has 16 wind farms with acapacity of 1,000MW. In which, 12 projects have been granted investmentcertificates, and five investors have implemented their projects,but only three have been connected to the national grid to runcommercial operation with a total capacity of only 100MW as of the FITdeadline."
Viet said: "As a locality with great potential for wind powerdevelopment, the province has proposed to add 24 wind power projects witha capacity of 12,018MW to the national power development plan. However, itstill needs to wait for the PDP VIII to be approved."
According to the Vietnam Electricity (EVN), by the end of October 31,2021, the final deadline for recognition of commercial operation projects andfor the projects to enjoy the support price (FIT) under Decision No. 39/QĐ-TTgof the Prime Minister, 84/146 wind power projects had signed powerpurchase agreements (PPAs) with EVN, with a total capacity of nearly 4,000MW.
Thus, 62 projects with a total capacity of 4,170MW which also had PPAcontracts with EVN, but due to slow progress, could not be put into commercialoperation on time. Many projects have completed construction andequipment installation but could not be operated commercially due to theend of the FIT pricing mechanism, said EVN.
International energy organisations calculated the potential of solar powerin the country at 434GW, including terrestrial solarpower with 309GW, offshore solar power with 77GW androoftop solar power with 48GW.
As of the Government's incentive mechanism, more than 16,400MW of solarpower sources have been put into operation, including 7,755MW of rooftop solarpower sources since 2019, most of them concentrated in the southernand central regions.
While Vietnam is trying to develop solar power, the projects'development pace is faster than that of transmission infrastructure.
As a result, the power industry has temporarily suspended the connectionof new projects and reduced the capacity of both projects.
According to EVN, in 2021, the untapped electricity output of theaforementioned renewable energy sources, which has increased to 1.68billion kWh including 1.25 billion kWh of solar power, had tobe reduced by 430 million kWh as per the EVN programme.
Experts consider the increasing untapped output of renewable energysources as "a huge waste" while other thermal power sourcesare in short supply, and the electricity price is increasing./.
VNA
