Vietnamese ambassador pledges support for offshore projects

In March this year, the GICON® Group (GICON®) and the Vietnam Petroleum Institute (VPI) signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The two partners informed the Vietnamese Ambassador to Germany Dr. Nguyen Minh Vu about the first results of several working meetings since the signing and project ideas in the field of offshore wind during a joint meeting. During his visit to GICON® in Dresden, he assured intensive support for the offshore activities. The meeting was attended by GICON® and VPI, as well as the German-Vietnamese Innovation and Economic Forum e. V., and other representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy for Trade, Investment and Military.

Floating pilot plant to exploit Vietnam's enormous energy potential

The main focus of the MoU signed in March is renewable energy, with particular emphasis on wind power and biogas. Both partners intend to develop new technologies for the production of hydrogen and electricity from renewable sources or to adapt and further develop technologies already developed at GICON® to the local conditions in Vietnam. As a first main focus GICON® and VPI are concentrating on the development of pilot projects in the field of offshore wind. According to Dr. Frank Adam, Head of GICON®'s Wind Engineering Dept., the Southeast Asian country has potentials for floating wind turbines (WTGs) of more than 30 GW at water depths of 60 meters and more. Dr. Ngoc Pham Quy, offshore expert at VPI, added in his presentation possible locations for a WTG off the Vietnamese coast. For both sides, the construction of a pilot plant for a floating wind turbine should be the stated goal in the next five years.

Ambassador Dr. Nguyen Minh Vu was impressed by the presented project and was convinced that the vision of sustainable energy production through floating wind turbines is the right approach for his country. He would like to support the process towards a first pilot plant using all possibilities at his disposal.

Prof. Jochen Grossmann, GICON® founder, was very satisfied with the outcome of the working meeting: "We have expressed the most important discussion points that were on the list for us and VPI to the Ambassador, and we are glad that we could win him for further cooperation. Now we have to move on to detailed planning on this basis and push the contact between German and Vietnamese decision-making bodies forward."

Klettwitz wind farm as a model project for successful wind farm planning in Vietnam

Following the working meeting at GICON® headquarters in Dresden, the delegation traveled on to Klettwitz. In the presence of Schipkau Mayor Klaus Prietzel, Ambassador Dr. Nguyen Minh Vu learned about the GICON® project "Repowering Windpark Klettwitz", which the group's engineering service providers implemented between 2014 and 2015. The representatives took advantage of the opportunity offered by the wind farm operator Enercity Erneuerbare to take a closer look at the wind farm from a height of over 140 meters. As one of the largest repowering projects in Germany, the Klettwitz wind farm can also be considered a model project with regard to wind farm planning in Vietnam. It was built on a former mining spoils pile with a special foundation developed by GICON®.