Foreign Firms to Invest $800 Million in Solar Projects in Vietnam Province

Two foreign companies have plans to invest a combined $800 million in solar power projects in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.


An increasing number of investors have plans to develop solar power projects in Vietnam. Photo: Internet

Two overseas companies have planned to invest a combined $795 million in solar power projects in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, the country’s coffee basket, according to Reuters.

U.S. power giant AES Corporation last weekend signed a memorandum of understanding with the provincial authority to invest $750 million in a solar plant with expected capacity of 300-500 megawatts (MW).

South Korea's Solar Park Global also received a certificate to build a solar panel plant worth $45 million on an area of 6.72 hectares in the Hoa Phu Industrial Park

In addition, Vietnamese private firm Xuan Thien Ninh Binh received a license to invest $2.2 billion in a 2,000MW solar power project in the province.

Long Thanh Infrastructure Development and Investment Company, a joint venture between a Vietnamese firm and South Korea’s Namu, will invest $308 million in a 250-megawatt solar plant.
The four projects have a total investment of $3.3 billion.

The province has so far agreed in-principle to 12 solar power projects that will be built on around 9,000 hectares. Further, potential investors have plans to develop wind power projects with a combined capacity of 1,450MW.

Vietnam’s power demand grows around 11% per year, but the country is now heavily reliant on thermal and hydro power plant to meet that demand.

Under a government-approved plan in 2016, Vietnam aims to bring installed solar power capacity from an insignificant figure currently to 850MW by 2020, 4,000MW by 2025 and 12,000MW by 2030.

Of the total power generation capacity, the percentage of solar power is projected to reach 0.5% by 2020, 1.6% by 2025 and 3.3% by 2030.

Meanwhile, wind power is expected to account for 0.8% of the country’s total energy output in 2020, 1% in 2025 and 2.1% in 2030, according to government projections.

Tuan Minh / BizLIVE