According to Ass. Prof, Dr. Sc., Nguyen Tac An,  former Director of the Institute of Oceanography, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Vietnam has great potential to develop wave energy. 

According to Mr An, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has studied to excavate wave energy in some developed countries like the United States, Portugal, France since 1973. In 2003, Portugal was the first country in the world to have wave power generator complex, with the capacity of 30 MW, costing as much as wind energy. Ocean energy includes: tidal energy, wind energy, thermal gap energy, stream energy and wave energy. With the conditions of the sea in Vietnam, wave energy has the greatest potential.  

Q: Would you please tell us how we could create electricity from wave?  

As calculated, if the wave is 1 meter high and 1,8 km along the coastline, it can generate the amount of energy equivalent to 35,000 HP; if it is 3 meters high, the wave can create a pressure of 29 tons/m2 on the sea surface. As oceanographic history recorded, waves can push 2,000-3,000 ton stones in the coast tens of meters away, smash 60-70 kg rocks or throw them 20-30 meters upwards.

As calculated, if the wave is 1 meter high and 1,8 km along the coastline, it can generate the amount of energy equivalent to 35,000 HP

Nowadays, some countries are using a lot of different devices such as wave buoy, oscillator, and hydraulic power for inshore or offshore waves to turn wave energy into electric power. These devices float on the sea surface and are tightly held by anchors in the seabed. The waves hit the propellers, spin the turbines and generate electricity.

Q: What are the advantages of wave power over other energy sources?

Wave power doesn’t destroy the environment and affect the ecosystem as hydropower does. Compared to nuclear power, it is safer, costs less, gets more support from the community and doesn’t need a big and complex management system. Those are the reasons that wave power is called the clean energy. On the one hand, energy security solutions are badly needed in our country. The development of nuclear power needs to be considered carefully. Other countries only develop nuclear power if they cannot find any other source of energy. On the other, our country has great potential of wave power.

Q: How great is the potential of wave energy in Vietnam? 

Vietnam has a long coastline with thousands of islands, so the wave power is very promising, especially in the Central part and islands. According to experts, wave, wind and geography conditions of Vietnam make the amount of energy generated from a square meter of wave one of the largest in the world. A few conferences about wave power generation have been held in Vietnam but they are still not enough to implement. We are still focusing on thermal energy, hydropower, wind power and recently nuclear power.

Q: What do we need to do to develop wave power in a large scale? 

Firstly, some islands like Truong Sa (Khanh Hoa), Phu Quy (Binh Thuan), Cu Lao Cham (Quang Nam), Con Co (Quang Tri), Hon Me (Thanh Hoa) may import small machines which can convert wave energy into electricity to satisfy the energy demand on the islands. Drilling rigs can also use those devices instead of generators to create energy. If this works well, we will continue to implement in a larger scale. The government needs to have some long-term strategic programs to encourage scientific research. It’s also important to stimulate investors as they’re only interested in hydropower due to the low cost and quick return.

In my opinion, the development of wave power in Vietnam is very promising.   

Thank you. 

By Van Ky