Vietnam approves $60 mln wind power project

By Dam Tuan   July 27, 2016 | 11:35 pm PT
A Singaporean company plans to tap the potential for wind power in southern Vietnam.

Southeast Asia’s leading renewable energy developer, The Blue Circle, has been awarded an Investment Certificate from Vietnamese authorities for a 40 Megawatt (MW) Dam Nai wind project worth $60 million in the southern province of Ninh Thuan.

The Singapore-based wind energy specialist, along with its Vietnamese partner TSV, have received an investment allowance for the wind project as well as a Power Purchase Agreement with Vietnam’s national utility, EVN, after having been granted land-use permission by provincial authorities for 16 months, according to The Blue Circle’s official website.

The Blue Circle installed a 100 meter-tall meteorological mast on the 933-hectare site along National Highway No.1 in May 2015 to gauge wind velocity. The site was approved in Ninh Thuan's Energy Development Master Plan, along with grid capacity for the project. 

Ninh Thuan has great potentional as a wind energy source in Vietnam. Photo by Tran Thi Thu Yen/VnExpress Photo Contest

Ninh Thuan has great potential as a wind energy source in Vietnam. Photo by Tran Thi Thu Yen/VnExpress Photo Contest

The Blue Circle CEO Olivier Duguet said that: “This approval for 40MW is only the first phase of the total project. With the grid connection on site, as well as very good wind speeds, the Dam Nai project has all the attributes to succeed even in a low Feed-In-Tariff environment.”

“It is a great achievement and recognition of the professional development work which has been done by our team in Vietnam during the last three years,” the CEO added.

The company will conduct engineering studies as the following step and construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in 2017 for the first phase.

“With less than 120 MW of wind power installed in the country so far, the Dam Nai project will position The Blue Circle as one of Vietnam’s wind energy pioneers, able to significantly contribute to the ambitious target set by the government. We intend to fully participate in the wind power expansion in Vietnam going forward and make wind energy become a reality in a country with big potential,” explained Gilles Beau, chief evelopment officer of The Blue Circle.

In pursuance of the Paris Climate Conference signature, Prime Minister Phuc has set a new target of 4,000 MW generated from wind power by 2025 which positions the country as potentially the largest market for wind power in Southeast Asia.

The Blue Circle is a developer of renewable energy projects in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Cambodia. Based in Singapore, the company works to bridge the gap in project development in Southeast Asia by being vertically integrated with unique regional wind engineering capabilities.

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