A Brief Overview on Assessments of Wind Energy Resource Potential in Vietnam

Duc Luong Nguyen

Abstract

With a coastline of more than 3,000 km and its location in the monsoonal climate zone, Vietnam is expected to have good potential for wind energy resource. In the recent years, several preliminary studies on assessment of potential of wind energy resource in Vietnam have been carried out. The objective of this paper is to draw an updated overall picture on wind energy potential and the current application as well as development of wind energy in Vietnam on the basis of data collected from various sources. The reviewing results showed that Vietnam has better wind energy resource than many other Asian countries. The highest potential areas of wind resource in Vietnam are the south central coast, central highlands, and south coast. However, the development of wind energy is just in the early stage and the application of wind energy is still negligible at present. This paper also identifies the major challenges need to be addressed for the future development of wind energy in Vietnam including those related to lack of the wind measurement and assessment of wind resource, lack of human resource, lack of comprehensive wind energy development planning, and lack of financial supportive mechanism. In order to promote the development and application of wind energy, much more effort need to be put forward in the coming years to overcome these existing challenges.