Vietnam will purchase at least 80% of offshore wind power plants’ output for 15 years, unless buyers and sellers have other agreements, according to a new government decree.
Under Decree 58/2025 on renewable and new energy, effective from March 3, 2025, the purchase commitment is not applied to cases of electricity generation not meeting the committed minimum level due to load demand or technical conditions of the power grid or issues of the projects.
A sea-based wind power project in Bac Lieu province, Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of EVN.
The duration of 15 years is higher than the draft term of 12 years.
The decree stipulates other incentives for offshore wind power developers, including exemptions of maritime area use fees for no more than three years from the beginning of construction and 50% reduction for the next 12 years, and exemption of land use fees for no more than three years from the beginning of construction.
To gain the incentives, projects must receive in-principle approval before January 1, 2031 and those powering the national grid must belong to the 6,000 MW approved under the power development plan (PDP). Other projects will gain incentives in line with the legal framework at the time of decision.
Vietnam currently has no offshore wind power projects. The country targets to add 6,000 MW of offshore wind power to its masterplan by 2030 and put the related projects into operation in 2030-2035, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hoang Long said last week. The target is 113,503-139,097 MW of offshore wind power by 2050, he added.
German renewable energy developer Pure New Energy’s (PNE) $4.6 billion Hon Trau wind power project in Vietnam’s south-central province of Binh Dinh has recently been re-classified as a nearshore wind power project.
Foreign investors of offshore wind power projects in Vietnam can sell their projects, and wholly state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or subsidiaries of those SOEs are prioritized to buy them.
The transaction is only permitted if the Vietnamese investors in the company refuse to purchase, according to the government’s Decree 58/2025 on renewable and new energy, effective from March 3, 2025.
Transactions of a part of an offshore wind project or an entire project must comply with the Electricity Law 2024 and other laws related to investment, enterprises, and sea.
They must be approved by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Industry and Trade if there is involvement of foreign investors.
A sea-based wind power project in Tra Vinh province, Mekong Delta, southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Trungnam Group.
In cases of not-yet operational projects, the foreign buyers must meet the following requirements.
First, they must have experience in investing and developing at least one offshore wind power project that is operational in Vietnam or in the world. “Experience” includes direct investment, contributing a minimum 15% of the project’s total investment capital, and the ratio of equity to capital contribution being at least 20%.
Second, the foreign buyers must ensure that the offshore wind power project has the participation of domestic enterprises with at least 5% of chartered capital or voting shares of the company that implements such projects. The “domestic enterprises” must be wholly state-owned enterprises (SOEs) or firms with SOEs holding more than a 50% stake.
Third, they must commit to utilizing domestic supplies (workforce, service, products) during their investment, construction and operation, on the basis of ensuring competitiveness of prices, quality, schedule, and available capability.
For operational projects, the transations must meet the “second” requirement mentioned above.
The 15th National Assembly (NA) on June 27 passed the law on national defence-security industry and industrial mobilisation in its ongoing seventh plenary session.
Specifically, all the 464 deputies present in the sitting, or 95.47% of the total number of deputies, said “yes” to the law.
The law comprises seven chapters and 86 articles.
Article 80 in the draft law proposed earlier about the responsibilities of People’s Court was removed, while Article 28 was added on the development of technologies with dual purposes and Article 71 on training, research, and expert exchanges to serve defence-security industry.
Good Way Technology, a Taiwan-based original design manufacturer (ODM) specialized in computing and mobile peripherals, will invest $15 million more in Vietnam.
In a recent filing with the Taipei Exchange (TPEx), Good Way Technology said it would invest $15 million in Good Way Cayman and then reinvest the entire amount in its sub-subsidiary Good Way Technology Vietnam.
The construction site of Good Way Technology factory in Thai Binh province, northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper.
The purpose of the move is “long-term investment,” according to the filing.
Good Way Technology Vietnam received an investment certificate for the project in October 2023. In February 2024, it kicked off the construction of a $45 million factory in the northern province of Thai Binh.
The factory, located in the Lien Ha Thai Industrial Park, will manufacture peripheral devices like USB connectors for computers. It will have an annual capacity of 3.7 million items.
Construction of the project’s first phase is scheduled for completion in Q3/2024, enter trial production the next quarter and start official production in Q1/2025.
Corresponding times for the second phase will be Q4/2026, Q1/2027 and Q2/2027.