Modern Energy Management wins bid for Vietnamese wind farm

One of the first commercial-scale wind farms to be introduced to Vietnam is underway, with Thailand-based project management firm to oversee the initial phase of production.

Modern Energy Management (MEM) signed to oversee the first development phase of the farm, costing $130mn.

The Tra Vinh project will have a capacity of 144MW, with the initial stage seeing 48MW potential, and will be developed by South Korea’s Woojin Construction, special purpose company Tra Vih Wind Power, and Dutch development funding provider Climate Fund Managers.

Vietnam, along with 47 other countries subject to climate change, has agreed to use only renewable energy by 2050 at the latest.

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Investment in renewables has been limited, however, due to a low FiT rate, lack of transmission infrastructure, and the perception of the nation’s power purchase agreement (PPA) being “unbankable” by international investors.

The integration of insurance, legal, and project management aspects of the development should prevent any of these issues, say MEM, bridging “the various financial, commercial and technical siloes that can arise in the course of developing wind assets”.

MEM also plans to issue a dedicated project manager, who will ensure “the project matures as planned enabling bankability”.

The Director of MEM, Lars Lund, reported that he considers the Vietnamese market to possess “considerable investment potential for projects that focus on the fundamentals as a means of reducing costs and ensuring sufficient returns for investors”.

At current, Vietnam has 200MW of wind power generation capacity, with 50 projects in planning.