Singapore-based Sunseap Group’s subsidiary Sunseap International has begun the construction of a 168MW solar farm in Vietnam at a cost of $150m.
Image: Officials of Sunseap and Vietnam Government officials at the groundbreaking ceremony. Photo: Courtesy of Sunseap Group Pte Ltd.
Ground-breaking ceremony at the solar farm was recently conducted by the company. The solar farm will be located on 186 hectares of land in Ninh Thuan province on Vietnam’s south-central coast.
Said to be the largest solar farm being constructed in Vietnam with collaboration from Singapore, the solar farm will also be the first to be led by Singaporean company. It is expected to begin commercial operations in next June. Once completed, the solar farm will generate enough energy to be power 200,000 households in Vietnam, while creating 200 permanent jobs in the region.
Sunseap co-founder and director Frank Phuan said: “We are excited to reach another important milestone in this solar project for Vietnam and for Sunseap. It is testament to the government’s commitment to promoting renewable energy and to supporting foreign investments in this sector.
“For Sunseap, this marks a significant step in our efforts to bring affordable, reliable and clean energy to beyond Singapore. As our name implies, we want the sun to be a major contributor to a sustainable future for Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.”
Sunseap is working together with its joint venture partners InfraCo Asia, an infrastructure development and investment company of the Private Infrastructure Development Group and Canada-based CMX Renewable Energy Canada will be allowed to sell the solar generated power to Vietnam’s national grid at a mandated solar feed-in tariff of $0.93/kilowatt hour for the next 20 years, provided they complete the delivery of clean energy to the grid by June 2019.
Enterprise Singapore assistant CEO Tan Soon Kim said: “We have seen traction in renewable energy projects in Vietnam, particularly in the solar energy sector.
“We hope to partner more companies to tap these growing opportunities in the market. The recent Memorandum of Understanding we have signed with Vietnam Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority aims to bring in more potential downstream opportunities for Singapore companies.”