Lying in the tropical monsoon area with plentiful wind and sunshine throughout the year, having more than 3,200 km of coastline and a relatively diverse terrain, Vietnam has great advantages for the development of environment-friendly wind power. Given the urgent need for energy, the country needs to adopt a national wind power programme to ease the current power shortage and, more importantly, to utilise the “forgotten” resources.
According to a report assessing Southeast Asia wind energy potential by the World Meteorological Organization, Vietnam has the best potential to develop wind energy. Based on data collected by more than 300 meteorological stations throughout the country over many years, Vietnam can measure the nature and speed of wind. At a height of 12 metres, wind speed averages 4 - 5 metres per second in coastal areas and 5 - 8 metres per second in island areas.
At a altitude of 65 metres in central mountainous areas, Central Highlands and northern mountainous areas (near China), the average wind speed is 8 - 9.5 metres per second, good enough for building large-capacity wind power plants. According to the calculation of the above organisation, the theoretical capacity of wind power sources is more than 100,000 MW (used to wind speed from 7 metres per second upwards). Vietnam can exploit wind energy on nearly 9 percent of its natural area. With this plentiful wind energy resource, the current production of this energy source is still far short of its potential.
At present, Vietnam has to import electricity from China and Laos with the volume expected to rise in the near future. Not only that, in the next 20 - 30 years, Vietnam’s oil and gas reserves will run out. Besides, after 2012, the country will have to import coal and become an energy importer from 2020. This may lead to energy shortages.
A solution of building wind power stations has been proposed to quickly boost electricity production to meet the demand. Of course, wind is an invisible form of energy and its movement is highly irregular; thus, investment in this field requires highly reliable statistics. But, investment costs for wind power are surely lower than those for hydropower. A total cost for a 4,800 KW wind-to-power station is some 3 million euro. 500 4,800-KW wind power stations will have a combined capacity of 2.4 million KW and cost 1.5 billion euro (US$1.875 billion), lower than over US$2.4 billion for the country’s largest Son La hydropower plant.
To attract more investment capital for wind energy production, the country needs policies on renewable energy, power grid and investment to attract capital for wind power stations. In the immediate future, it is necessary to take immediate surveys on wind mechanisms and energy potential.
It is a huge waste to ignore research and development on wind power while power shortages are a constant risk and affect economic growth and national competitiveness. Meanwhile, the current national electricity strategy primarily rests on hydro, thermal and nuclear electricity.
In the world, wind power development has become an energy strategy trend. Unlike nuclear power which requires a very strict technical process and supervision, building and installing wind turbines does not demand such rigorous procedures. With successful wind power development experience in India, China, the Philippines and Africa, Vietnam can absolutely develop wind energy to serve the country’s economic development.
Box: The Ministry of Industry and Trade submitted to the Government the master plan for energy development where renewable energy will account for 5 percent of total power capacity by 2020. Vietnam also expects to have the first nuclear power plant in 2020 and national electric sources will meet 80 percent of demand. With such long strides, wind power will be a significant energy source for national development.
PV
Vietnamese
