Experts impressed by Vietnam’s renewable energy adoption
Hanoi (VNA) – The UK’s Financial Times
on April 26 ran an article highlighting that the expansion
of Vietnam’s wind and solar farms is proving crucial to powering its economic
growth.
According to data from Irena, an inter-governmental renewable energy
organisation, Vietnam’s production from solar and wind increased 237 percent
and 60 percent, respectively in 2020, raising the share of these sources to a
quarter — 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 places
on the planet.
The seas off the provinces of Binh Thuan and Soc Trang where
developers plan to build multibillion-dollar offshore wind farms are also
relatively shallow, with depths of 20 metres to 50 metres.
The author quoted Thu Vu, an
energy finance analyst at the Ohio-based Institute for Energy Economics and
Financial Analysis as saying that Vietnam’s renewable energy adoption is
impressive. The higher cost of offshore units relative to
onshore or nearshore wind, the expert noted.
Ian Hatton, Chair of
Enterprize Energy, a UK-renewable energy company, said in order to reduce cost,
Vietnam must improve its infrastructure, build substations, and lay
cables along the seabed for offshore production, or finding alternative
solutions. Enterprize is experimenting with converting wind energy and
seawater to hydrogen.
He also noted an example of the dilemma facing low- and
middle-income nations such as Vietnam. Accordingly, if they produce enough
energy to meet demand without improving transmission infrastructure, additional
capacity 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 the
combination of an attractive feed-in-tariff with ambitious installation targets
and a transparent permitting process has been a critical factor in unlocking
this market./.