VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to send the Government a pilot scheme to organize tenders to select financially strong investors to replace those currently involved in delayed or slowly implemented wind farm projects.

Speaking at a seminar on wind energy in HCMC on Monday, Pham Trong Thuc, head of the New and Renewable Energy Department under the ministry’s General Department of Energy, said the ministry would review a number of delayed wind power projects in the central provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan and implement the scheme to choose new investors for these projects.

The Government has assigned the ministry to review wind power projects and assess the actual spending of investors on their projects to propose a reasonable electricity purchase scheme.

Bui Van Thinh, vice chairman of the Binh Thuan Wind Power Association, said holding tenders for wind power projects has proved effective in many countries after their governments have completed master zoning plans for such projects.

However, it is difficult to apply such tenders in Vietnam as investors are required to spend heavily building wind measurement towers, doing feasibility studies and preparing investment plans for their projects.

Recently, the governments of provinces including Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan have urged investors to accelerate their projects and have taken measures against delayed projects. For example, Ninh Thuan has canceled the long-stalled Phuoc Dan project in Ninh Phuoc District while Binh Thuan has plans to invalidate the investment certificates of three wind farm projects which have come to a standstill for years.

Twenty-two provinces and cities in Vietnam are seen holding great potential for wind power development. However, technical equipment restrictions and low buying prices are hampering more investments in the sector. The prices applied to onshore and offshore wind power projects are 7.8 U.S. cents and 9.8 U.S. cents per kWh respectively.

The three operational wind farms in Vietnam are a 30-MW project in Tuy Phong District of Binh Thuan Province, a 16-MW wind farm in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu and a 6-MW project on Phu Quy Island off mainland Binh Thuan.

Investors have registered to implement 52 other projects with a combined generation capacity of 4,252 MW.

According to Thuc, the ministry has passed to the Prime Minister a national renewable energy development strategy for consideration and approval.

Studies showed hydropower resources in Vietnam have been almost exhausted and coal resources could meet domestic demand until 2100. Therefore, the nation will have to step up the development of renewable energy, Thuc said.

Currently, coal-fired power plants account for about 34% of Vietnam’s total electricity output, hydropower for 43%, gas-fueled power facilities for 19% and oil-fired stations for 4%. By 2030, renewable energy is forecast to make up 6% of the national electricity capacity.