Tag: power capacity

  • Offshore wind power capacity to reach 36 GW by 2045

    Offshore wind power capacity to reach 36 GW by 2045

    Vietnam’s offshore wind power capacity will increase 36 GW by 2045, according to the latest draft of the Power Development Master Plan VIII.

    It will increase to 4 GW by 2030, 10 GW by 2035, 23 GW by 2040. Offshore wind power will account for some 2.6 percent of the total electricity generation capacity in 2030 and 10.8 percent in 2045. Offshore wind power farms will be located mainly in the north and the south of the country.

    In the previous draft of the plan, the Ministry of Industry and Trade had set a target of lifting offshore wind power capacity to 2-3 GW, or 1.5-2 percent of the total, by 2030.

    At a meeting held to discuss the latest draft Friday, Mathias Hollander, senior manager of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said Vietnam can have an offshore wind power capacity of 5-10 GW by 2030. The country’s offshore wind power generation has an efficiency of over 50 percent, similar to that of hydroelectricity, he noted.

    According to GWEC calculations, Vietnam will have to invest $10-12 billion for the first 4-5 GW of offshore power wind capacity, but the wind is an infinite source, so the country will not have to keep feeding wind power farms as it does with coal or gas-fired plants.

    Meanwhile, the unit cost for 1,000 kWh of electricity generated by an offshore wind power farm is around $83, down from $255 in 2010. It is expected to further drop to $58 by 2025.

    With a coastline of 3,260 km, low sea levels, and high wind speeds (7-10 meters per second at a height of 100 meters), Vietnam is an emerging offshore wind power magnet in Southeast Asia, experts say.

  • Vietnam lowers power capacity in latest national plan update

    Vietnam lowers power capacity in latest national plan update

    Vietnam eyes to reduce its planned power capacity by 2030 by over 13 percent to 155,700 megawatts in the latest revision of the national power plan.

    This equates to a drop of nearly VND800 trillion ($34.48 billion) in investment, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Dang Hoang An told a meeting Friday, referring to Power Development Plan VIII for the 2021-2030 period with vision to 2045.

    The ministry also lowered the planned capacity for 2045 by 9.7 percent to 333,590 megawatts.

    In the update, the ministry has excluded solar power capacity from the country’s energy backup capability to ensure power security.

    This is because solar power is unstable, and “a cloud passing by could reduce capacity by 40 percent,” An said.

    Without solar power, backup capacity is 43 percent the total, which can ensure system safety.

    Some investors and experts also contributed ideas for power development over the next decade.

    Mathias Hollander, senior manager at Copenhagen Offshore Partners, said Vietnam could develop 5-10 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, creating $60 billion in added value to the economy.

    Strong offshore winds could increase power by 50 percent to the level of hydropower, he added.