Offshore wind power investment still needs more regulations

It took the Ministry of Industry and Trade four years since Decree 31/2021/ND-CP made offshore wind power an industry with conditional market access for foreign investors to finalize the specific conditions.

It took the Ministry of Industry and Trade four years since Decree 31/2021/ND-CP made offshore wind power an industry with conditional market access for foreign investors to finalize the specific conditions.

Currently, there is only a price framework for onshore and nearshore wind power, but not yet for offshore wind power. Photo : Duc Thanh

Glad to have initial regulations

According to Decree 58/2025/ND-CP detailing the Electricity Law 2024 on the development of renewable energy and new energy, foreign investors must meet a number of conditions when implementing, participating in investment implementation, and participating in the selection of investors for offshore wind power projects. In particular, the investor must have previously invested in the development of at least one offshore wind power project through direct capital contribution or participation in project management, design, and construction.

To develop an offshore wind power project in Vietnam, foreign investors must have the participation of a domestic enterprise with a minimum participation of 5% of the charter capital. This domestic enterprise must be a 100% state-owned enterprise or have the participation of a state-owned enterprise accounting for more than 50% of the charter capital or the total number of voting shares.

For domestic enterprises, when participating in offshore wind power projects, they must also meet the condition of having previously participated in an offshore wind power project by contributing capital or project management, design, and construction.

Talking to Investment Newspaper reporters, Mr. Bui Vinh Thang (Global Wind Power Association) said that the issuance of Decree 58/2025/ND-CP has made businesses happier, but they still have to wait to see how it will be implemented. For example, businesses have to wait for the Government to approve the List of offshore wind power projects to be included in the revised Power Plan VIII and this list must have the opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (formerly the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment) to see if it is suitable for the marine spatial planning or not.

In addition, it is necessary to issue a new Decree to replace Decree 11/2021/ND-CP regulating the assignment of certain sea areas to organizations and individuals for exploitation and use of marine resources to facilitate survey assignment.

Decree 58/2025/ND-CP has stipulated that the conditions for foreign enterprises to participate in offshore wind power are joint ventures with domestic enterprises. Therefore, it is possible to consider granting additional survey licenses to other enterprises so that after 2 years there will be more data to calculate further for offshore wind power.

“Currently, there is only one valid wind power survey license granted to the Vietnam Petroleum Technical Services Corporation ( PTSC ). When there is more data, the bidding will be more favorable and other investors will have the opportunity to meet the target of granting investment certificates before January 1, 2031 to enjoy incentives in Decree 58/2025/ND-CP,” Mr. Bui Vinh Thang shared.

More regulations needed

Regarding incentives, "the minimum long-term contract electricity output is 80% within the loan principal repayment period, but not more than 15 years for projects selling electricity to the national power system", energy consultant Phan Xuan Duong said that, thus, the investor also knows that 80% of the output has been purchased to calculate the financial plan and can estimate this based on wind data when preparing the Feasibility Study Report.

Conditions for offshore wind power projects to enjoy incentives

a) Projects whose investment policy is decided or approved by competent authorities before January 1, 2031;

b) For projects supplying electricity to the national power system, the capacity must be at least 6,000 MW approved by competent authorities in the power development plan.

“With this regulation, investors can calculate cash flow, determine the cost of electricity production, and the electricity price they will offer. Of course, if Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) buys more than 80% of this committed output, the investor will benefit more in terms of revenue,” Mr. Duong shared.

However, Mr. Thang said that investors are also concerned that the remaining 20%, if sold at spot prices, could be very low, which would cause the final price to be pulled down a lot. Therefore, we still have to wait and see what the ceiling price for offshore wind power issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade will be.

Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade only has a price framework for onshore and nearshore wind power, but no price framework for offshore wind power, and no projects in this field have been implemented to have data.

Another concern of investors is that some current regulations require bidding documents to be prepared in accordance with the law, which mentions a draft power purchase agreement (PPA) agreed with the power buyer - in this case, EVN. However, there is currently no detailed wind measurement data (usually takes 2 years to implement) to calculate the financial plan, and negotiating with EVN is difficult.

Article 29 of Decree 58/2025/ND-CP also stipulates that the ceiling price of electricity in the bidding documents is not higher than the maximum price of the electricity generation price framework for offshore wind power issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade in the bidding year; the winning electricity price for selecting investors is the maximum electricity price for the electricity buyer to negotiate with the winning investor.

Although the regulation states that "EVN is responsible for purchasing electricity at the request of the competent authority or the agency that decides to organize the bidding", investors are also worried that it will take time to issue the final PPA when looking at the actual negotiations of power source projects for a long time.

“Investors are also very interested in the model power purchase contract with EVN for offshore wind power. However, it is very difficult to have a contract that satisfies the investor, EVN and the lending financial institution. Meanwhile, offshore wind power projects often have high investment costs, so relying on domestic capital alone is not enough,” a financial expert shared.

Therefore, after Decree 58/2025/ND-CP, other relevant regulations need to be issued soon so that the implementation of offshore wind power projects can progress as quickly as expected by the authorities.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/dau-tu-dien-gio-ngoai-khoi-van-can-them-quy-dinh-d251476.html