Investors see great opportunities in Vietnam in the long term

Ha Tinh province’s chair Dang Quoc Khanh on October 4 gave an investment certificate to GA Power from Germany for two solar power projects, capitalized at $46.6 million in total. 

These include the 29 MWp Solarpark Cam Xuyen located in Cam Hung commune in Cam Xuyen district and $29 MWp Solarpark Huong Son in Son Quang commune in Huong Son district

The number of registered investment projects in the solar power sector has increased rapidly this year. In Binh Thuan province alone, 83 solar power projects had been licensed by July which have total investment capital of VND124.6 trillion.

In Ninh Thuan province, Sunseap International, a subsidiary of Sunseap Group, the Singaporean leading clean energy supplier, has signed an MOU with InfraCo Asia Development to develop a solar power project with the capacity of 168 megawatt. The electricity to be generated by the plant will be enough to supply to 200,000 households in Vietnam.

In August, B.Grimm Power announced the two investments in power projects in Vietnam, including the package of $35.2 million spent to acquire 80 percent of shares in a solar power plant in the coastal province of Phu Yen which has installation capacity of 257 MW.

Prior to that, the investor from Thailand signed a cooperation agreement with Xuan Cau Group to build and operate a solar power plant in Tay Ninh which has capacity of 420 MW, the largest in Southeast Asia.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), the total capacity of the solar projects registered in Vietnam is 19,000 MW, of which 3,000 MW (86 projects) have got approval.

The projects have not only attracted huge capital from domestic banks, but also from foreign financial institutions. The 2017 Energy Report showed that Vietnam is shifting to renewable energy sources to generate electricity to satisfy high demand while maintaining production costs. 

According to BT Lee, CEO of UBM VES, Vietnam has high power use. Industrial production is the biggest electricity consumer, about 47.3 percent of total power used. 

To date, power is mostly sourced from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. 

With the current low electricity price and high investment rates, investors cannot expect high profits. However, in the long term, Vietnam’s renewable power market is very promising to investors.

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