New handbooks on wind energy in Vietnam

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH released two bilingual handbooks on wind energy in Vietnam to help investors and local authorities develop wind power projects. During a workshop on 3 June 2011 in Hanoi the publications were presented. These results are part of a project started in 2008 and commissioned by the International Climate Initiative (ICI) of the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), aimed at improving the political framework for grid-connected wind energy in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH released two bilingual handbooks on wind energy in Vietnam to help investors and local authorities develop wind power projects. During a workshop on 3 June 2011 in Hanoi the publications were presented. These results are part of a project started in 2008 and commissioned by the International Climate Initiative (ICI) of the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), aimed at improving the political framework for grid-connected wind energy in Vietnam.

The study "Information on Wind Energy Sector of Vietnam" provides information on the legal framework and incentives given to potential investors. Moreover, the study includes important information on investment procedures and financing possibilities. The methodology for wind power planning and selecting suitable sites is the main focus of the second study, the "Manual on Wind Power Planning". It is based on lessons learnt from the first pilot project on wind power planning in Binh Thuan province, which was implemented successfully with the help of consultants from Germany.

General director of the Vietnamese ministry's Energy Department Pham Manh Thang said that renewable energy would play a critical role in the country's energy development but investors were still faced with difficulties due to lack of a national master plan and legal framework. Therefore, the ministry has submitted a draft version of a new legal framework to the Prime Minister for approval that will outline wind power project management including support policies and investor incentives.

The Energy Institute estimated that the country's electricity demands would increase from 87 billion KWh in 2009 to 570 billion KWh in 2030, at a rate of 10 per cent per year. The country targets wind power to account for 5 per cent of power consumed by 2020 and 11 per cent by 2050.