VND 94,000 BILLION ARE EXPECTED TO BE INVESTED IN THE CLEAN ENERGY IN BINH THUAN

About 20 wind power and solar projects of domestic and foreign investors are expected to be deployed in Binh Thuan province in the coming time.  

At the recent investment promotion conference, Binh Thuan People's Committee handed over the decision and received investment commitments of nearly 30 domestic and foreign enterprises in potential fields such as clean energy, tourism and high- tech agriculture. Estimated total initial registered capital is over VND 126,000 billion.

In particular, the number of renewable energy projects prevails with estimated investment capital of VND 94,150 billion, which are mainly concentrated in Tuy Phong and Ham Tan districts. The most prominent is solar power plant project of Electricity of Vietnam, Son My 1 gas power project of French-Japanese joint venture with total investment capital of VND 49,500 billion (equivalent to USD 2.2 billion). 

So many investors are actively coming to Binh Thuan to develop wind power, solar power 

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hai, Chairman of Binh Thuan People's Committee, said that the province's investment attraction structure is shifting clearly towards encouraging the development of clean energy in parallel with key economic sectors, gradually reaching the target to become the nation's major energy center by 2020 with a total capacity of over 12,000 MW.

According to the development plan up to 2030, the total capacity of wind power plants will reach 2,500 MW. For thermal and solar power, the estimated capacity in the coming time is 10,000 MW and 3,819 MW respectively. Binh Thuan is also actively diversifying its forms of energy production, so far this province has coal and liquefied gas, hydropower, wind power and solar power plants.

According to Mr. Hai, favorable natural conditions are the most important factor to help Binh Thuan lead the local groups to comprehensively develop the electricity industry. Specifically, thanks to low rainfall, the number of sunshine hours in the year is always at an ideal level and most of the areas have an average radiation intensity of about 5 kWh per square meter which has many advantages for developing surface energy. Hydropower resources are plentiful thanks to owning an average annual water volume of about 5.4 billion cubic meters made up of seven major river basins and an additional 30 large lakes.

However, according to the Binh Thuan Wind Farm Association, despite the huge potential, it is not feasible for the wind power and solar power plants of the province to contribute to achieving the overall target of 800 MV by 2020.

Mr/ Bui Van Thinh, Chairman of the Association, said that wind power projects often take a long time to obtain investment licenses. Then, the Employer continues to face the problem of access to loans, especially the source of preferential capital of the State. Among the three officially operated projects, one was claimed by the banks, the owner of one project was changed and the rest is put into operation in the recent time, but they must make the best efforts in paying operation cost because the re-investment expense is none so it is very difficult to recover the debts.

“Over the past 10 years, wind power capacity in the whole country has grown by about 160 MW. Particularly in Binh Thuan, there are 19 investment projects registered and very few of them is officially operated with the price of electricity to the grid of 7.8 cents per kWh as regulated. It takes less than three years to complete 80% of the remaining plan but if nothing changes in the next time, the planned price is impossible, " said Mr. Thinh.

Speaking at the meeting, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc sharing his plan in consideration of raising the price of wind power in the coming time to support businesses, attracting investors to invest in developing clean energy in Binh Thuan according to the policy of Central Government

The Head of Government shared that since the decision on incentives for development of solar power projects in Vietnam was signed, the purchase price at the delivery point increased to 9.35 cents per kWh. Then, dozens of investors came to Binh Thuan to explore the opportunities for solar power development. This is considered an optimistic signal for the power industry but it is recommended that businesses have a long-term and sustainable business strategy that should be put into actual practice to avoid noisy signing but no deployment.

"The Government and investors should have a vision and improve the quality of the planning so that no sector planning, regional planning and conflicting products occur, eliminating each other," emphasized the prime minister and he noted that Binh Thuan must develop at the same time titanium processing industry into clean energy source based on the advantage of holding 92% of the total ore reserves of the country.

Source: kinhdoanh.vnexpress.net