Vietnam Firm Operates $49M Germany-funded Wind Power Plant

Vietnam’s Thuan Binh Wind Power JSC last weekend started commercial run of a wind power plant costing VND1.1 trillion ($49.2 million) from Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), a German government-owned development bank, in the central province of Binh Thuan. The 24-turbine Phu Lac plant will cover 400 hectares in Tuy Phong district, using turbines and equipment of Denmark’s Vestas Wind System A/S. Kicked off in July 2015, Phu Lac wind power plant is designed to generate 200,000 kWh of electricity daily. This is the third wind power plant in Binh Thuan, having total capacity of 60 MW for the central province which has a long coastline in Vietnam. In August, Eab New Energy GmbH, a Germany-based company specializing in wind energy, solar energy, and decentralized models of self-sufficient supply systems, kicked off construction of Mui Dinh wind farm having 37MW at a cost of VND1.27 trillion ($57 million). In July, Vietnamese Trung Nam Group built the 90-megawatt wind power plant costing VND3.96 ($178 million) in the province. Currently, there are three wind power plants including two in Binh Thuan and another in the Mekong delta province of Bac Lieu. The country attempts to raise wind power capacity to ease dependence on thermal and hydropower. But a number of domestic and foreign companies have quitted their investment plans in wind power projects in the central provinces of Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan, two localities having the highest potential for this kind of renewables in Vietnam, due to low selling prices, according to Head of Binh Thuan Wind Power Association Bui Van Thinh. (Vtv.vn Nov 27, VnExpress.net Nov 27)