Pacifico Energy Vietnam has received a sea survey license from Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Environment for the up to 1,300 MW Nam Trung Bo 3 offshore wind project in Lam Dong Province. The project is included in Vietnam’s Adjusted Power Development Plan VIII, with commercial operation targeted between 2031 and 2035.
The approval is an important development-stage milestone, but it does not represent construction or final investment approval. The license allows Pacifico Energy to investigate the approved offshore area, establish the project's technical design basis and undertake environmental assessments before progressing to subsequent investment and permitting procedures.
Pacifico Energy plans to begin with desktop assessments before conducting a detailed field survey campaign in 2027. The program is expected to cover seabed and subsurface conditions through geotechnical and geophysical surveys, alongside wind measurements, meteorological and oceanographic studies, environmental baseline assessments and other technical investigations. The results will help determine the site's suitability and inform the project's engineering design.
Nam Trung Bo 3 also expands Pacifico Energy's offshore wind development pipeline in Vietnam. The company received a separate sea survey license in February 2026 for the 500 MW Nam Bo PE2.1 project in Ho Chi Minh City. Together, the two projects represent 1.8 GW of offshore wind capacity under development by Pacifico Energy in Vietnam, with Nam Trung Bo 3 accounting for roughly 72% of that combined pipeline.
The timing is significant for Vietnam's offshore wind sector, which is moving from resource assessment and regulatory development toward project preparation. Vietnam's adjusted Power Development Plan VIII provides for 6,000 MW to 17,032 MW of offshore wind serving domestic electricity demand during the 2030-2035 period, while the government has also established mechanisms governing survey activities and offshore wind investment.
Pacifico Energy entered Vietnam in 2017 and has already completed the 40 MW Mui Ne solar project and 30 MW Sunpro wind project. The company says it is currently developing approximately 2 GW of power projects in Vietnam at different stages, giving the Nam Trung Bo 3 survey program a broader connection to its existing local development platform.
The next phase for Nam Trung Bo 3 will therefore focus on converting the survey authorization into detailed site knowledge. Data from the 2027 campaign will be central to project design, environmental assessment and subsequent investment and permitting decisions, while the 2031-2035 operating window provides the broader planning timeframe under Vietnam's adjusted power development framework.