Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has huge potential in terms of geography and windpower resources to generate electricity, experts have said.

The western part of the East Sea bordering southern Vietnam is oneof two areas with an average wind speed at sea of 10-11km per hour, accordingto research from the Vietnam Institute of Seas and Islands under theMinistry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

The water from the central province of Binh Thuan to the southernmostprovince of Ca Mau – especially the area 300km from the shore – has wind speedof 7-11km per hour on average, making it one of the areas with the highestpotential of generating electricity from wind energy in the world, according tothe research.

At a height of 80 metres from the surface of the East Sea, theextended area in the northeast-southwest direction from the Taiwan Strait towaters off Vietnam’s southeastern region has power capacity of 600-800W persquare metre per year.

Waters off the South Central Coast have power density of 400-700Wper square metre, and those off the Gulf of Tonkin have power density of400-500W per square metre.

Forecasts from wind power experts show that wind power from thecountry’s sea will continue to increase, alongside wind power from mainland,reaching 100GW and higher by 2030.

Large areas of sea have potential for developing offshore windpower constructions, according to Dr Du Van Toan from the VietnamInstitute of Seas and Islands. He cited the 142,000sq.km sea area in thesouthern region and the 44,000sq.km sea area from the central province of BinhThuan to the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

Statistics from 1,500 wind farms in the country (some are in theprocess of developing further) in the last decade show that the average windspeed of 7-12.5m per second at 100m above sea level generates the most windpower, which is highly effective for consumption and trade.  

Projects exploiting wind power in Vietnam are developing well,especially two major projects wind farms in the southern Bac Lieu province andsouthernmost Ca Mau province, which are expected to generate 1,000 MW of windpower by 2020 and 2025, respectively.  

The wind farms and wind power plants have been contributing to theprovinces’ budgets by selling electricity to the Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN).

For example, the 100 MW Bac Lieuwind power plant in the southern province of Bac Lieu has beencontributing some 76 billion VND (3.3 million USD) per year to the local budgetsince 2010. It is expected to increase its capacity to 400 MW and contributesome 300 billion VND (13.2 million USD) per year to the local budget soon.

On January 16 last year, construction of the 100MW Khai Long windpower plant began in the southernmost province of Ca Mau. It is expected to generate300 MW of wind power and some 200 billion VND (8.8 million USD) per year by2018.

This high potential should Vietnam to establish a wind energydevelopment strategy which includes developing wind power construction on thesea, said Dr Du Van Toan.

“We will be able to further develop the economy and preventlandslides and land erosion if we know how to utilise wind power resourcestogether with other sources of power such as solar power, wavepower, ocean thermal energy conversion, as well as biomass energy,aquaculture and aquatic conservation,” he said.

“On the other hand, offshore wind power constructions not onlycreate new tourism attractions but also help strengthen the protection ofnational sovereignty on the sea,” he said.-VNA