ADB backs $186 mln solar power plant in central Vietnam

The financing comprises a $27.9 million loan from the ADB, a $148.8 million syndicated loan funded by commercial banks with ADB as Lender of Record, and a $9.3 million loan provided by the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP).

The loan will fund a 257-megawatt power plant in Phu Hoa District. The plant will be the largest single operating solar power plant in Vietnam and one of the largest in Southeast Asia, the ADB said in a statement.

It will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions every year by 123,000 tons while directly serving the electricity demand of Quang Ngai Province and Nha Trang Town in central Vietnam as well as surrounding areas.

"This project will support the rapid development of solar power capacity in Vietnam, advance the country’s low-carbon growth goals, and, we hope, catalyze further commercial bank financing for renewable energy," said Jackie B. Surtani, ADB’s infrastructure finance division director for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The plant is owned by Thai energy firm B.Grimm Power and its Vietnamese partner, Truong Thanh Vietnam Group Joint Stock Company (TTVN).

Established in 1993, B.Grimm Power is one of Thailand’s largest private power producers with a total capacity of 2.9 gigawatts, including 24 solar power plants.

TTVN was established in 2012 and is involved in clean energy investment in Vietnam. The company has an equity interest in three operating solar farms with a total capacity of 357 MW, and is also implementing wind and rooftop solar projects.

There were 102 solar power plants operating in the country with a total capacity of 6,300 MWp as of September, according to the national utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN).

In the first eight months, solar power production surged nearly three times year-on-year to 6.39 billion kWh, it added.