Germany to propel Vietnam’s wind power sector with $1.4m grant

A German development agency has provided Vietnam with a €1m ($1.47m, £865,000) grant intended to develop the nation’s wind power industry while opening the door to Teutonic expertise in the sector.

State-backed German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Vietnamese officials earlier this week signed an agreement aimed at helping Vietnam to implement a legal framework for connecting wind power projects to the national grid.

Doing so would help attract foreign investors, said Guenter Riethmacher, GTZ’s resident representative in Vietnam.

The deal also calls for Vietnam to draw up a policy that would enable advisors to consult on wind power projects nationwide. The role could benefit Germany, which has been offering developing countries its expertise in renewable energy.

The pact precedes the scheduled operational launch next month of Vietnam’s first wind power plant, located in the central province of Binh Thuan. Built at a cost of $55m, it has an installed capacity of 30MW.

The project has been verified as a UN clean development mechanism (CDM) carbon project. According to a document filed with CDM’s executive board, the wind farm was built solely with private funds. London-based carbon credit specialist EDF Trading is named as the CDM buyer.

A study by the Vietnam government estimates that 8.6 per cent of the country’s land mass has a potential to develop wind power projects with a total capacity of about 1.78GW.

Officials have drawn up a tentative plan that would see alternative power provide about five per cent of the nation’s electricity by 2020.