Vietnam: China delivers 1.56 GW wind power projects

Vietnam’s wind power market is the most mature in Southeast Asia. Vietnam has abundant wind resources. The coastline of more than 3000 kilometers in the coastal area ensures good wind speed.

Energy consumption in Vietnam will continue to grow at an average annual rate of 8% until 2030. Wind energy and other renewable energy sources will become an important way to meet socialist Vietnam’s growing energy needs.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Vietnam was one of the world’s fastest growing economies in the past decade. The pace of economic growth exceeded 7% in both 2018 and 2019.

However, economic growth moderated significantly in 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. For calendar 2020, the Vietnamese economy still recorded positive growth of 2.9% y/y. Despite the moderation in growth momentum, Vietnam was one of the very few industrial economies in the Asia-Pacific region that achieved economic expansion in 2020, as the world economy slumped into a recession.

China an increasingly important wind power supplier to Vietnam

As of December 2020, Energy China had signed 7 new wind power projects in the Vietnamese market, with a total of 1,189 MW of wind power.

On October 25, 2021 China’s MingYang Smart Energy Group announced it had won a turbine order to equip a 375-MW intertidal wind project off the coast of Vietnam’s Ca Mau Province.

The deal was placed by PowerChina International Group, the wind turbine manufacturer, which announced it will supply 75 units of its MySE 5.0-166 machines for the Ca Mau offshore wind park.

MingYang wind turbine. Image by: Ming Yang Smart Energy Group

To be built in two stages, Ca Mau will have its first batch of turbines delivered in the first quarter of next year. The complex will be located in the Thuan Thanh hamlet of Dam Doi district and will be able to produce about 1.1 billion kWh of electricity a year.

China Gezhouba Group Company (CGGC) has been tasked with the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work.

MingYang noted that as of 2020, its offshore turbines in the 5.0 MW+ class have been installed across 3.2 GW of projects globally. The Chinese firm pointed out that it will continue its collaboration with local developers and supply chain parties in Vietnam where it will also expand its workforce to meet growing demand on the wind market amid an upcoming pricing framework update.

SOURCES:

Seetao, ‘Energy China signed 7 projects in Vietnam wind power market’ 2020.12.28. seetao.com/details/54409/en.html

Renewables Now, ‘China’s MingYang Smart Energy Group wins order to equip a 375-MW intertidal wind Vietnam project’, 25 October 2021.
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