The Government’s policies have created a driving force for wind energy development in Vietnam over the years. From 2018 to now, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (“MOIT”) has received requests for project inclusion into the National Power Development Plan (“NPDP”) of up to 50,000 MW.
At the moment, the total planned capacity of wind power in 2025 is 11,800 MW – of which competent authorities have approved 4,800 MW before January 1, 2019, and an additional 7000 MW was included by July 2020. MOIT has also sent a written report to the Prime Minister on the appraisal results of 74 wind power projects with a total capacity of about 6400 MW, which are proposed to be included in the NPDP.
MOIT is urgently completing the National Electricity Development Plan VIII (“VIII Master Plan”) for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2045 to submit for the Prime Minister’s approval in October 2020. To assist with this process, on 5 October 2020, MOIT issued Document No.7421/BCT-DL on the list of wind power projects proposed to be included in the VIII Master Plan, guiding the following:
1. The People’s Committees of provinces and cities to create a list of wind power projects requesting for survey, research, and supplementation into the NPDP.
2. Due to time constraint on the submission deadline of the VIII Master Plan, appraisal and approval for inclusion of wind energy projects shall be suspended until further notice.
3. The People’s Committees of provinces and cities are responsible for reviewing the site planning of wind power plants.
MOIT’s guidance to suspend the inclusion of more wind power projects into the NPDP is a recommendable move given the fact that the national power transmission system has been experiencing overload. Moreover, Electricity Vietnam (EVN) predicts that roughly 20-35% of total installed capacity will not be released in the South Central Region (including renewable energy hotspots Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan) in 2025 if all projects that have been included in the NPDP go into operation in the next 4 years.
For more information on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the author Dr. Oliver Massmann under omassmann@duanemorris.com. Dr. Oliver Massmann is the General Director of Duane Morris Vietnam LLC, Member to the Supervisory Board of PetroVietnam Insurance JSC and the only foreign lawyer presenting in Vietnamese language to members of the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF VIETNAM.