The prevalent trend in Vietnam’s energy market is for supply to shrink relative to demand. Vietnam is among the world’s 15 most populous countries, but its supplies of non-renewable fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal and uranium) are relatively limited. Therefore, the development of renewable energy sources, which are virtually unlimited, is playing an increasingly crucial role in helping Vietnam attain energy security.

Wind power potential is deemed as immense and easy to exploit thanks to Vietnam’s diverse terrain, which comprises lowlands, midlands, highlands and a long coastline.

Since the 1980s, thanks to Japan’s assistance, Vietnam has constructed and successfully operated, on a pilot basis, a wind power generation plant with a capacity of some 30kW, on the coast of Hai Hau in Nam Dinh Province. Experts from Hanoi Polytechnic University contend that the performance of this plant was commendable until three- to five-story buildings sprang up and blocked the wind. Still, Vietnam lacked the necessary technical and economic conditions for wind power plants to proliferate at that time.

At present, in view of the rising demand for power and the enhanced competitive capacity of wind power, Vietnam is capable of promptly implementing a national program on wind power to provide electricity for many residential areas and reduce the demand-supply imbalances in the power market.

Technology

Wind power plants in places where the average wind speed is significant may be able to meet the demand for power and will take only five to 10 years to recoup investment capital. However, if the average wind speed is low (the minimum speed at which the construction of power plants is feasible is 14km per hour), it may take up to 20 years to recoup the investment.

Technological progress in wind power generation has been impressive in recent years and has played an instrumental role in enhancing the competitive edge of this type of energy. New materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, composites and rubber are used to make wind turbines which have blades of up to 60 meters in length but which weigh merely 20 tons each. They can rotate up to 500 million times within the warranty period of 20 years.

Technical advancement

Thanks to better technology, it is now possible to construct wind power plants with significant capacities (up to 3MW). The dominant trend in the world is for wind power plants to be constructed in proximity to each other to form a cluster. At the most advantageous locations, it is possible to set up several wind power plants on a one-square-kilometer plot of land and generate 20MWh annually (equivalent to 55kWh per square meter per annum).
A study by experts from Stanford University, published in a meteorology journal in November 2007, shows that wind power, which was once considered unstable due to its reliance on wind speed, is now perceived as a stable and reliable energy source thanks to new approaches, which form the platform on which Vietnam’s wind power program is developing.

Economic viability

Scientific and technological progress, coupled with the aforementioned approaches, has reduced investment costs for wind power plants by 80% compared with those in the 1980s. Still, the investment which the plants require is still twice as much as that for hydropower plants and 2.5 times as much as that for thermopower plants. Therefore, the Government should offer incentives to encourage the establishment of wind power plants. These incentives should focus on handling the problem of setting power prices by means of a price list based on the average cost of power generation (borne by investors) and the benefits that society reaps from the use of clean, sustainable energy sources in place of environmentally hazardous non-renewable fossil fuels.

European researchers calculate that if environmental costs are considered, other forms of electricity are far costlier than wind power. Coal- and oil-fueled power costs twice as much as wind power while gas-fueled power is 1.3 times as expensive.

Ecological impacts

Experts argue that constructing a 10kW wind power plant in a region with an average wind speed of 20km per hour reduces pollution by as much as doing away with one car. Still, wind power plants also impose several problems. For instance, the turbine blades are long, big and likely to kill birds (although the number of birds in Vietnam is not that significant) and create noise (although the noise at wind power plants has the same magnitude as that in the streets, hovering around 50dB, and, for someone who stands over 300 meters away from a plant, is barely distinguishable from that of the wind blowing).

Wind power plants do not cover vast amounts of land, some 1,000 square meters on average for 1MW, and the land between windmills can be used for farming. However, the construction of numerous wind power plants in close proximity to each other may make the landscape monotonous.

Suggestions

Compared with other energy development programs (nuclear power or coal-fueled power), the wind power development program, with its unique attributes and feasibility, may be implemented by the private sector. Based on the experience of other countries, the Government should offer incentives to boost the construction of wind power plants at appropriate locations, whether they are on highlands or lowlands, offshore or on islands.