Ministry of Industry and Trade still wants to prioritize state-owned corporations to do offshore wind power

The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that choosing international investors or assigning domestic private sector to pilot offshore wind power would not be appropriate - Photo: NGOC HIEN

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just submitted a report to the Government on a pilot research project on offshore wind power development and analyzed three options for selecting investors for offshore wind power, prioritizing state-owned economic groups to pilot in the first phase.

According to Power Plan 8, Vietnam aims to reach 6,000 MW of this type of power source by 2030, with a target of 70,000 - 91,500 MW by 2050. However, to date, no project has been decided on in principle and assigned to an investor.

Power Plan 8 also does not clearly state the quantity, capacity and location of offshore wind power projects, or the plan to connect this power source.

In the options for selecting pilot investors for offshore wind power projects, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that selecting international investors is not feasible due to problems related to the legal framework, while assigning investment to domestic private investors will not fully assess issues of national defense, security, prices, legal problems, etc.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has analyzed the pros and cons of assigning to state-owned economic groups under the direction of the Deputy Prime Minister .

With the plan to assign the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) to pilot the investment, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that PVN has the advantage of using the available database and resources of the oil and gas industry in implementing the pilot project.

A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that the expertise of the oil and gas industry can account for 40-45% of the cost of an offshore wind project.

However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also raised the issue of assigning PVN to invest in offshore wind power, requiring assessment and adjustment of the group's business and industry policies. Because PVN is not yet allowed to invest in other sectors, offshore wind power. In addition, this group must also change to meet the specific requirements of the offshore renewable energy industry.

With option 2, assigning Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) to pilot, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that EVN has certain advantages when taking advantage of experience and capacity in investing and managing the operation of power plants and transmission systems.

This group also has the advantage of not having to negotiate prices, as it is also the unit that buys and sells electricity. However, the management agency is also concerned that this is a new field, so there are different requirements compared to traditional power source projects.

Regarding option 3, which is to assign a unit under the Ministry of National Defense to pilot, the Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that this option needs to be evaluated in accordance with the policy and feasibility after considering the capacity of the specific unit of the Ministry of National Defense.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that private investors are participating in the electricity sector, but mainly in traditional electricity projects, or small-scale solar and wind energy projects. The Ministry said that it is not yet appropriate to assign private investment to pilot projects because legal issues and problems have not been fully assessed.

"The assignment of offshore wind power to foreign and private investors will take place after a comprehensive assessment of the pilot project and the legal system is completed," the Ministry of Industry and Trade stated.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bo-cong-thuong-van-muon-uu-tien-tap-doan-nha-nuoc-lam-dien-gio-ngoai-khoi-20240722194227053.htm