A wind power farm in Ninh Thuan province. (Photo: VNA)

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed incentives to attract investments in renewable energy projects in a draft decree on implementing the Law on Electricity, which has recently been made public for comments.

Notably, to attract investments in offshore wind power, the ministry proposed an exemption of marine area use fees during construction and a 50% reduction in fees for the 12 years after operations begin.

Under the 8th national power development plan, Vietnam aims to use 6,000MW of offshore wind power by 2030 and 30,000–50,000MW by 2050 to become an offshore wind power hub in Southeast Asia.

Currently, there is no operating offshore wind power project in the country.

Enterprises that are wholly State-owned and that invest in offshore wind power projects can be granted higher credit than the cap set in accordance with the Law on Credit Institutions. However, the offshore wind power projects' investment policies must be approved before January 1, 2031 to enjoy these incentives.

The draft also sets requirements for selecting foreign investors to implement offshore wind power projects in terms of capacity.

Foreign investors must have implemented at least one project at a similar scale in Vietnam or elsewhere and have total audited net assets higher than the project investment for the last three years. These projects must also have the participation of Vietnamese enterprises, with foreign investors allowed to hold less than 65% of the joint venture’s charter capital.

Under the draft decree, the ministry has also proposed incentive policies for solar and wind power projects with storage systems that are connected to the national grid, including giving priority to power from these projects. Incentives are also being proposed for green hydrogen and green ammonia projects.

The Law on Electricity was passed on November 30 and is scheduled to come into effect on February 1, 2025./.

VNA