In its latest statement to the government about the implementation of the eighth national power development strategy (Plan 8), MOIT said it is difficult to identify both the projects and domestic enterprises to implement offshore wind power projects because the current legal framework is not clear enough.

The ministry explained that national marine spatial planning has not been approved, so there is still no foundation to define the sea management sphere. Meanwhile, the current laws on investment don’t clearly stipulate which agencies have the right to approve offshore wind power projects

“For these reasons, there is still not enough legal foundation for EVN and domestic enterprises to develop offshore wind power projects,” the report said.

MOIT, in the document proposing the amendment of the Law on Electricity, suggested that it is necessary to amend the Investment Law in order to identify the agencies to be authorized to approve policies on offshore wind power project development.

In the immediate time, MOIT has proposed that the government assign EVN and domestic enterprises to carry out fieldwork for offshore wind power development, so as to get ready to deploy the projects once the legal framework is completed.

As for concentrated solar power projects, the list of projects of this kind has not been released. Therefore, MOIT has asked the government to authorize provincial authorities to continue checking the conditions of these projects in accordance with Decision 500/QD-TTg and report to the PM.

Under the decision, for approved solar power projects, specific roadmaps executing the projects will be considered under Plan 8 implementation planning in accordance with the current laws on planning and investments, to ensure power security and the balancing of electricity generation sources and additional charges. This aims to ensure that the project development suits the electricity transmission network, brings high economic efficiency, and has reasonable transmission costs.

The lack of a sufficient legal framework was also the reason mentioned by MOIT in a document replying to a proposal on an offshore wind power project developed by Enterprize Energy.

The British power group wants to implement the $11.9 billion Thang Long Wind project with a capacity of 3,400MW, but MOIT, citing the reason mentioned above, replied that there is no legal foundation to handle the proposal from the investor.

Under Plan 8, total offshore wind power capacity is expected to reach 6,000MW by 2030.

Luong Bang