HÀ NỘI — A project called “Support to the Up-Scaling of Wind Power in Việt Nam” has played an important role in promoting wind power investments in Việt Nam.

Martin Hoppe, head of Economic Cooperation and Development for the German Embassy, spoke on the project at its closing ceremony in Hà Nội on Friday.

German development co-operation on wind power in Việt Nam started in 2009, with the first wind tariff being issued by the Government in 2011. Given the success of this co-operation, a follow-up project was agreed upon to be carried out by the end of 2018.

Within the project’s framework, the German International Development Agency (GIZ) co-ordinated closely with the Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority (EREA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) to propose mechanisms for supporting wind power to the Government. They were also charged with improving capacity for investors and consulting companies, commercial banks, research institutes, local and national Government agencies and investors.

The project implemented technical and financial training programmes for the public and private sectors and supported Vietnamese-German research co-operation on wind power between 2014 and 2018 within the framework of the German Climate Technology Initiative.

An important early stage milestone was the publishing of the “Wind Investment Guidelines in Việt Nam,” describing every step and licence within the development and investment process, available both in Vietnamese and English. As many as 1,370 people participated in the trainings, coming from government institutions, universities and private actors. Participants included project developers and representatives from national banks and local engineering and consulting firms. Another key achievement was the project’s contribution to consulting the Government about decisions on wind tariff increases in September 2018.

“In 2013, the governments of both countries agreed energy should be a priority area of our bilateral development co-operation,” Hoppe told Việt Nam News. “Only one year later, we started implementing this wind project at a time where there was no major market development but rather skepticism within the private sector. Now, five years later, more and more investors both domestic and international are lining up to develop solar and wind in Việt Nam.”

Located in the monsoon climate zone and shaped by more than 3,000 kilometres of coastline, Việt Nam has extensive resources to develop wind energy. The country’s technical potential of wind power is assessed at 27 GW. Wind technologies have rapidly developed, their prices have been lower and the Government has issued policies to support the development of wind power. "Việt Nam will have an increasing number of wind power projects nationwide," GIZ’s representative predicted. — VNS