Denmark's Ørsted ties up with T&T to increase its offshore wind footprint in Vietnam

Ørsted and T&T signing the MoU to develop offshore wind projects in Vietnam

The tie-up between Ørsted and T&T brings together a multi-GW pipeline of greenfield offshore wind projects located off the coasts of Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan provinces. The partners will combine their talents to establish this offshore wind pipeline and promote the development of an effective offshore wind regulatory environment as well as a thriving new industry in Vietnam.

Vietnam has some of the best conditions for producing offshore wind in Asia, with more than 3,200km of coastline and high constant wind speeds. Vietnam's offshore wind potential is estimated at 500GW by the World Bank Group.

In addition to this world-class potential, Vietnam's fast-expanding power consumption means that additional large-scale, reliable power sources will be required in the next decades. The Vietnamese government has produced a draft national Power Development Plan (PDP) VIII that includes a target of 3-5GW offshore wind in 2030 and 9-11GW in 2035.

There are a few large-scale offshore wind farms under construction in Vietnam, notably Enterprize Energy's 3.4GW Thang Long offshore wind farm and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), Asia Petroleum Energy, and Novasia Energy's 3.5GW La Gan offshore wind farm.

These favourable indicators, together with Vietnam's strong supply chain potential, have persuaded Ørsted and T&T Group that offshore wind will play a key part in the country's future energy mix. Do Quang Hien, president and general director of T&T Group, said, "10 years ago, we began researching and preparing for the development of renewable energy in order to be ready when the time was right. This has resulted in T&T completing several large solar PV projects and being on track to complete five big onshore wind projects by the end of this year. Energy is a strategic focus for the T&T Group, and with this collaboration with Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind, we look forward to accelerating our plans and bringing valuable experience and international investment capital to the offshore wind sector in Vietnam."

Matthias Bausenwein, president of Ørsted Asia-Pacific, said: "This MoU is a major step for Ørsted in establishing a strong foothold in Vietnam and in showcasing our aspiration to be a reliable long-term partner in this country. Together with T&T, we are excited to use our multi-GW pipeline to build a vibrant local offshore wind industry and to make Vietnam one of the leading offshore wind markets in Asia-Pacific."

"We believe that offshore wind is one of the best ways for Vietnam to meet its rapidly-growing power demand as this is a utility-scale, reliable, and domestic power source which, if deployed at large scale and with the right framework, can be competitive with coal and gas-fired power stations," he added.

In anticipation of a developing offshore wind sector in Vietnam, Ørsted set up an office in Hanoi in April. The offshore wind developer stated that it intends to establish a local team and collaborate closely with government officials and local partners.