The Danish Energy Agency and Vietnamese authorities are discussing steps to move offshore wind expansion forward in Vietnam, the agency announced Tuesday.
The agency and the Vietnamese Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority are preparing an Input to Roadmap report for offshore wind development in Vietnam, which has technical potential to generate 160 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind.
The report is part of a review of the long-term cooperation agreement between the Danish Energy Agency and Vietnamese authorities signed in 2013 to strengthen Vietnam’s transition to a low-carbon economy.
The initiative is administered by the Danish Energy Agency and financed by the Danish Climate Envelope - a mechanism for channeling Danish dedicated climate funding to support mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries.
The webinar on Tuesday reviewed the report and discussed the most important governmental steps to move the expansion of offshore wind forward in a country that is attracting strong interest from the offshore wind industry.
"Even after excluding sites that may ultimately prove not to be viable due to conflicts with other seabed uses or due to financial reasons, the potential for offshore wind along coastline remains very significant," the agency said.
It noted that Vietnam, with its abundant wind resources and large pipeline potential, is the only country in the region that has implemented nearshore wind with 99 megawatts (MW) already installed.
The agency stressed that in comparison, there were approximately 29 GW of offshore wind installed globally by the end of 2019 out of which Denmark currently has 1.7 GW.
“The organization of the high-level offshore wind webinar is a testament to the extraordinary government-to-government energy partnership, Vietnam and Denmark has developed since 2013," the Deputy Director-General of the Danish Energy Agency Martin Hansen was quoted as saying.
He said that cooperation and activities within offshore wind are on track despite the coronavirus pandemic. "Vietnam has a huge potential for offshore wind, which could play a key role in the green transition of the country,“ he added.
The final version of the report will be launched at a workshop in Hanoi on Sept. 9.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr