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Vietnam Investment Review: SolarBK first local firm licensed to build solar farm
The leading renewable energy solutions provider in Vietnam, SolarBK, has just received a licence to develop a 4.4-megawatt peak solar farm in Danang, acting not only as the project owner, but also the first Vietnamese engineering, procurement, and construction firm for a solar project.
Located on a 6.7-hectare plot in Lien Chieu district, SolarBK’s solar farm project is expected to become operational in the first quarter of 2018, helping to reduce nearly 5,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually. This is a part of SolarBK’s strategy to make Vietnam green.
“Our first solar farm will soon be realised. It is a small project for its kind but a giant leap for SolarBK. SolarBK will not only be the project owner, it will also become the first Vietnamese engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company for a solar farm – while the IREX panels used will be the first bankable Vietnamese-made module,” said Nguyen Duong Tuan, CEO of SolarBK.
IREX’s solar panel factory is also a member company of SolarBK. Founded in 2012, IREX is the factory with the most modern production lines with a potential capacity of 300 megawatts (MW) and solar cells f 200MWp per year.
Currently, SolarBK is actively working to “green” many projects in Danang, as the firm inked a co-operation contract with Empire Group on lighting up the latter’s entertainment mega-complex with its energy-efficient solar-powered electrical system. The total capacity of this system touches a 1.5 megawatt peak (MWp). The firm will also supply a total of 75,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity annually from 160 rooftop solar panels – cutting carbon emissions each year by 48,000 tonnes in total.
SolarBK is one of few companies in Vietnam that is capable of professionally and efficiently performing EPC.
“SolarBK believes that everything should start from its core. We hope that our solar power solutions will continue to be widely spread, especially in the education field. We hope that it will stimulate the youth into working together for a future of Vietnam becoming the global leader of renewable energy,” reads the firm’s website.
More than 1.5MWp of solar photovoltaic rooftop systems have been signed for and deployed nationwide by SolarBK up to now.
Vietnam’s potential for solar power generation is great, with 1,600-2,700 sunlight hours per year and an average direct normal irradiance of four-to-five kWh per square metre, comparable to Thailand, the Philippines, Spain, and Italy.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, hundreds of solar projects have registered to invest in Vietnam – at a total planned capacity of more than 15,000MW by 2030, a higher solar power capacity target than listed in the revised Power Development Master Plan VII.
Danang is said to have great renewable energy potential, with 90 kilometres of coastline, 2,000 hours of sunlight per year, and an average wind speed of three metres per second.
According to a report prepared by the Danang Department of Industry and Trade, around 30 per cent of the city’s population use solar power for water heaters, while around 20 five-star hotels and resorts are using solar powered water-heating systems.
