Global agency proposes incentive extension for Vietnam wind power projects

The council Thursday said the extension will help the wind power industry tackle difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and encourage investment in offshore plants in the future.

The FIT for offshore and onshore wind power currently stands at 9.8 cents and 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, respectively. It applies for 20 years to plants that begin commercial operations before November 1.

The council estimates that about 4,000 MW of wind power projects would not be completed before the deadline in order to benefit from the incentivized FIT prices due to delays caused by the pandemic.

As a result, an investment of approximately $6.7 billion in this form of energy, including $6.5 billion in fixed asset costs and $151 million in operating costs over 25 years, along with nearly 21,000 job opportunities, will be at risk, the council said.

GWEC’s Chairman Ben Blackwell said that support measures are necessary to remove difficulties for Vietnam's wind power industry amid Covid-19.

Without the FIT extension, wind power projects might not be able to continue, posing negative impacts to local economic development, he added.

There are 106 wind power plants with a total capacity of 5,655.5 MW have requested for commercial operation date, according to national utility Vietnam Electricity. However, as of August, only three projects with a capacity of 48.8 MW received the certifications.

Vietnam has 24 commercial wind power plants with a total capacity of 963 MW in the first eight months of this year.