A wind farm in the central province of Quang Tri’s Huong Hoa district. (Photo: VNA)

The province’s western mountainous region has favourable conditions for wind power development with an average wind speed of 6-8 metres per second and vast terrain.

The number of wind power projects carried out in Quang Tri province increased dramatically last year. Specifically, it has 17 more projects in operation, bringing the total number of commercial wind power projects to 19 with a total capacity of over 671 MW. Another 12 projects are under construction this year.

The potential to attract investment in wind power in Quang Tri is still very large. In addition to 31 wind power projects that have been put into operation and are under construction, it has 53 projects that have been submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade for consideration.

In March, the provincial People's Committee gave the green light to the Infrastructure and Transport Investment Construction Joint Stock Company to conduct a survey and submit documents relating to the planning of the Intracom offshore wind project.

The project will have a capacity of 1,000MW and a total investment of 72 trillion VND (3.1 billion USD).

Current wind power plants also create spillovers to other fields. Tours have been set up to attract more visitors to the province, and roads have been upgraded to both serve wind power plants and connect communes in mountainous border areas.

Vo Van Hung, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said attracting investment in wind power will bring great economic benefits, adding that 1 MW of wind power would contribute 600-800 million VND to the local budget each year. It also has less impact on the environment, he said.

Recently, the province has used 148 hectares of forest to build wind power projects. Out of a total of 1,800 hectares of land planned by the province for energy investment, 439 hectares are for wind power, he said.

The provincial authority has approved an assessment of the impacts of wind power projects on the environment, natural resources, and socio-economic conditions for the 2021-2025 period, with a vision to 2030.