US energy company AES [AES:US] intends to invest USD13bn in the construction of a wind farm in Vietnam with a total installed capacity of 4,000 megawatts (MW), as reported by Reuters on July 29. According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, AES presented a letter of intent for the project during the annual Vietnam-US energy security discussion in Washington. The project is expected to double the nation’s present 4,000 MW wind generation capacity.
Vietnam has made tremendous advancements in wind energy production since announcing its net zero emission target by 2050. In 2021, there were almost 4 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy installed in Vietnam. To meet its climate goal, the country plans to install 11.7 GW of wind power by 2030 and 6.6 GW by 2045. Additionally, a joint study by Australian National University, ASEAN Centre for Energy (ACE), and several other organizations revealed that Vietnam’s power portfolio in 2020 contained a far larger proportion of solar and wind energy than did the Asia-Pacific region overall. On July 25, Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh approved the proposed plan to put conclusions from the upcoming COP26 climate summit into action. According to the plan, renewable energy sources, such as hydroelectricity, wind, solar, and biomass power, will produce at least 33% of all electricity in Vietnam by 2030.
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