Khe Sanh Wind Power has confirmed with VietNamNet that it is negotiating with foreign investors to develop Khe Sanh wind power plant. 

The cooperation, if implemented, would help optimize project development, while Khe Sanh would have financial resources to develop other renewable energy projects. This is part of the company’s strategy on renewable energy projects with capacity of up to 500 MW by 2030.

A senior executive of Khe Sanh said the wind power developer is still negotiating with three partners from Hong Kong, Singapore and Portugal, and it is following procedures to ask for permission from competent agencies to implement the plan. No official contract has been inked yet.

Currently, Vietnam doesn’t have a company with experience in running wind power plants, and there is still no equipment and tools to repair, maintain, or replace components and fix problems in case of incidents.

Wind power turbines are put on high towers, about 135 meters high, as tall as a 40-story building. The running and maintenance of wind power plants require qualified workers who have many years of experience in the field.

In some developed countries, wind power projects appeared early in 2000s. When the  projects enter the electricity generation period, investors cooperate with financial corporations so experienced staff can run large wind power turbines, including large-scale projects with turbines all over the world.

As the corporations run plants with large operation scale, they are willing to spend big money on specialized equipment and tools, and recruit experienced engineers and workers, which optimizes the effectiveness of projects.

Therefore, Khe Sanh Wind Power wants to carry out share restructuring to take full advantage of cheap financing (the loan interest rates are just 2-3 percent per annum), use foreign partners’ resources to minimize costs, improve efficiency and maximize the life expectancy of projects.

Prior to that, Khe Sanh Wind Power sent a document to the Quang Tri People’s Committee, requesting the agency to report to the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of National Defense about the negotiation and the plan to transfer some shares to investors from Hong Kong.

The foreign partners will be indirect owners of the project through a legal entity to be established in Vietnam.

Tuan Nguyen