Haiphong, offshore wind hub for the Gulf of Tonkin?

Disclaimer: the following article was written according to the notes that I took at the event, it doesn't reflect Worley's perspectives on the matter.

Yesterday I had the privilege to represent my company, Worley, as a country representative, to attend the "Trade and investment promotion between Denmark and Haiphong city in the offshore wind sector"

Having grown up in Haiphong, I went to the UK for university, and since then my dream has already been to use the knowledge that I learnt to build a better Vietnam.

The dream was partly fulfilled when I was part of the team to write “Offshore Wind Roadmap for Vietnam” back in 2019, the project was sponsored by the World Bank Group.

It’s now even a greater excitation to see that my very hometown is at the forefront to develop offshore wind industry.

Supportive provincial government

At the beginning of the event, Nguyen Van Tung, head of the municipal administration shared a number of advantages of Haiphong to be the leader of foreign investment in general, and for offshore wind in particular.

1.???Haiphong is the biggest port city in the North with all 5 means of transport: rail, road, airplane, inland water ways and our strongest strength is sea transportation. Since 2018, we have two deep water ports that can accommodate 160.000 tonnes vessel

2.???There have been 800 FDI projects with the sum of $24.5m

3.???Haiphong’s GDP has been increased 12-15% every year, which is in the top of Vietnam

4.???We have 10.000 expats and we’ve been building facilities to attract the expats including international schools, hospitals, and luxury residential accommodations

5.???We are ranked no 2 for Provincial Competitiveness Index and no 1 for our services for business

6.???Vietnam government strongly encouraged Haiphong to develop green energy. A prime example was that ExxonMobil had developed a plan for LNG power plant in Haiphong but the project was postponed indefinitely because the government wanted Haiphong to focus on green energy.

Available Route to Market for Offshore Wind

Haiphong has several industrial zones in the suburbs of the city that give business favourable deals.

Bruno Jaspaert, General Director at DEEP C Industrial Zones, shared his positive experience with Haiphong. Having been in Haiphong for 25 years, Deep C has seen the development of the city, especially the recent growth. The company itself has grown 7 times in the part 5 years, now having their own port and grid.

They are committed to use renewable energy, have already started with rooftop solar and expecting to buy energy from offshore wind farms if they are constructed in Haiphong. If the zone is fully occupied, it is equivalent to 2500 GWh per year.

My comment: For people who doesn’t know Haiphong, we don’t have as much sunshine as in the South, and onshore wind speed is low, so the majority of renewable supply has to come from offshore wind.

MoU on offshore wind energy cooperation

Esbjerg is a prime example of how a town can position itself from and O&G port to an irreplaceable strategic port for offshore wind in the North Sea.

Having signed the MoU with Esbjerg, I’m having a high hope that Esbjerg could share the experience, the lessons learnt and help Haiphong to become a strategic port for offshore wind in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The biggest concern from supply chain companies.

There were delegates from 22 Danish entities in the event, notably Vestas and Siemens Gamesa.

Their concerns are not attribute to only Haiphong but for overall offshore wind industry in Vietnam.

For them to establish local supply chain, they’ll need to see 3 things

1.???Ambition, with the pipeline of 1GW/year

2.???Remuneration scheme (i.e. a clear plan for FIT or CfD)

3.???Marine spatial planning and clear legal framework for seabed leasing

The ambition is there but point 2 and 3 have been slowed down recently.

Why Haiphong?

I had always been under impression that Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan (provinces in the South East of Vietnam) have stronger wind speeds and therefore, they will be the first place to build offshore wind in Vietnam. It can be argued that Haiphong has better port facilities but by the same logic Vung Tau (a similar city to Haiphong but in the South) could be a better option.

The only explanation for starting in Haiphong could be the lack of energy source in the North while there is currently surplus of energy in the South.

We will all need to wait for the outcome of PDP8 (Power Development Plan).

#offshorewind #vietnam #haiphong #worley #denmark #esbjerg #MoU #DeepC