Illustration. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi – The Vietnam Administration of Seas and Islands on July 22 held a hybrid consultation to seek advice on promoting the exploitation of offshore wind power.

Deputy director of the agency Truong Duc Tri said offshore wind power development is an important part of Vietnam's COP26 commitment on the transition from fossil fuels to green energy.

According to Tri, the main advantages of this renewable energy include its ability to generate more power while using significantly less land compared to other sources.

However, many difficulties arise when it comes to selecting the optimum spot to build a wind farm at sea.

Sirpa Jarvenpaa, director of the Southeast Asian Energy Transition Partnership, said to achieve its goal of developing about 7 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 and another 54 GW by 2045, Vietnam needs to conduct surveys of offshore areas to identify possible locations.

Sebastian Hald Buhl, representative of a consortium between Vietnam's T&T Group and the Danish multinational power company Ørsted, said that it is necessary to ensure the effective use of Vietnam's offshore wind resources by applying prequalification criteria when approving and granting permits for marine surveys.

Proprietary survey permits should be issued early to avoid overlapping, he added.

At the function, participants also discussed Vietnam's offshore wind power development strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2050; listened to presentations about project developers' expectations in wind measurement and geological and topographic surveys in Vietnam's waters; and proposed solutions to promote the exploitation of this energy source.