Located
in the monsoon subtropical area with long coastline, Vietnam has fundamental
advantages to develop wind energy. When comparing the average wind
speed in the East Sea of Vietnam and the surrounding sea areas, the result
showed that wind in the East Sea of Vietnam is fairly strong and seasonally
change.
The
World Bank (WB) conducted a detailed survey about wind power in Southeast Asia,
including Vietnam. According to this study, among the four surveyed countries,
Vietnam has the largest potential for wind power and
better than the neighboring countries like Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
Vietnam
has 8.6% of the territory is rated as “good” and “very good” for the
construction of large wind stations, while in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, the
numbers are 0.2%, 2.9% and 0.2% respectively. The total wind
power potential of Vietnam is estimated to reach 513,360 MW,
more than 200 times the capacity of Son La Hydropower Plant, and more than 10
times the total forecasting capacity of the power sector in 2020.
Vietnam
has up to 41% rural areas that can develop small wind
powers. Comparing this figure with the neighboring countries, the
rural areas that can develop wind power in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand are 6%,
13% and 9% respectively. It is indeed a privilege for Vietnam.
In
Vietnam, the areas that can develop wind power do not spread across the entire
territory. With the influence of monsoon, the wind regime is also different in
each area. If the northern of Hai Van Pass, the strong wind season coincides
with the northeast wind season, in which the most potential areas are Quang
Ninh, Quang Binh and Quang Tri. In the southern part of Hai Van Pass, the
strong wind season coincides with the southwest wind season, in which the most
potential areas are the Tay Nguyen area, the coastal provinces of the Mekong
Delta and especially the coastal areas of Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan.
According
to research conducted by the World Bank, in the territory of Vietnam, the two
most potential areas for wind energy development is
Son Hai (Ninh Thuan) and sand hills at the height of 60 – 100 meters from the
west of Ham Tien to Mui Ne (Binh Thuan). The advantages of these areas are high
average velocity wind, less storm and stable wind trend.
They are the favorable conditions for wind energy development. During the
monsoon months, the proportion of south and southeast winds are
up to 98% with an average speed of 6 – 7m/s. It means that we are able to build
the wind stations with capacity of 3 to 3.5 MW.
In
fact, people in Ninh Thuan have also created a number of homemade small wind
generators for the purpose of lighting. Both these areas are sparsely populated
with hot and dry weather. Moreover, this is the ethnic areas with special
difficulties of Vietnam.
Although
there are many advantages as mentioned above, but when mentioning wind
energy, we need to note a number of unique features to be able to
develop it in the most effective way.
The
biggest disadvantage of wind energy is the dependence on weather condition and wind
regime. Therefore, at the design stage, the wind
regime, terrain and type of wind without turbulence flows which badly
affect the transmitter should seriously be studied. Moreover, although wind
power is becoming more popular but it cannot be used as the main
energy. However, the possibility of the combination between wind
power and storage hydropower will open up opportunities for
Vietnam to develop energy in areas such as Tay Nguyen, which has advantages in
both of these kind.
Another
noted point is that the wind power stations will cause noise pollution during
operation as well as disrupt the natural landscape and could affect the signal
of the radio waves. Therefore, when constructing wind power stations, it is
needed to calculate reasonable distance to residential areas and tourist
resorts in order not to cause negative impacts.
In
order to meet the goal of ambitious growth, in the medium term, Vietnam should
continue to exploit the traditional energy sources. In the long term, Vietnam
needs to develop strategy and roadmap for the development of new energy
sources. In this strategy, the economic costs (including internal and external
expenses on the environment and society) need to be analyzed carefully, taking
into account new developments in technology, as well as reserves and price
movements of alternative energy sources. In these new energy sources, wind
power has emerged as a worthy choice and therefore need to be fully assessed.
Vietnam
has many advantages for the development of wind energy.
If Vietnam does not invest in research and development of wind power will be a
huge waste because the risk of power shortage
is always permanent, affecting economic growth and national competitiveness.
Meanwhile, the current national strategy for power seems
only interested in hydropower and nuclear power – the energy sources with huge
initial investment and many hidden risks on
both environment and society.
In
the world, the development of wind power is a major trend, showing the highest
growth rate compared with other energy sources. Unlike nuclear power which
needs a complicated technical process and strict supervision, the construction
and installation of wind power does not require such rigorous processes. With
the experiences of successful development of wind
power in India, China, Philippines and the geographical
advantages of Vietnam, Vietnam can completely develop wind
power and contributing to the overall development of the
economy.
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