$390 million B&T wind farm cluster expected to kick off before October

Quang Binh province is looking to accelerate the B&T wind farm cluster (Illustration image)

B&T wind farm cluster is a large-scale foreign-invested renewable energy project that fits the province’s economic development strategy.

Covering an area of 252MW, the cluster combines two projects. The first, B&T 1, has a capacity of 100.8MW and is expected to start operation in December 2020. The second has a capacity of 151.2MW and is expected to come into operation in June 2021. The total investment capital of the two farms is VND8.9 trillion ($386.96 million).

Quang Binh Province has the potential to develop 800-1,000MW of wind power projects and has been actively pitching investment opportunities to investors in the power sector.

The province also managed to draw the attention of giant investors. In June 2018, the province expressed its support to AC Energy’s plan to develop several renewable energy projects in Vietnam, particularly in wind power generation.

The representative of the provincesigned an MoU with AC Energy led by its president and CEO Eric Francia on an investment in a wind power project in the province. AC Energy, through its subsidiary New Energy Investments (NEI), plans to invest in the 352MW B&T wind farm in Quang Binh province with a total estimated cost of $493 million. However, no information was revealed since then.

As of mid-February 2020, a Dohwa solar power project was added to Quang Binh province's 2016-2025 power development planning with vision to 2035. This project is located in the Dohwa renewable energy complex of Dohwa Group (Korea), which has a capacity of 49.5MW and occupies 75.1 hectares in Le Thuy district.

The solar project will be connected with the grid by a generator step-up transformer with a capacity of 63MVA and voltage of 22/110kV, and a 110kV single transmission line from the project to Cam Lien 110kV transformer substation with a length of 6.5km. The construction of the project was started in August 2017. During the implementation process, the company has been facing difficulties in evaluation procedures and procedures to build transport infrastructure to connect with factory and electricity selling price, thus the construction is still running behind the plan.