China’s Bowerway opens first solar project

July 14, 2014 | 16:56

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China’s Bowerway Group has opened its solar panel project in Vietnam while others of its kinds are stalled due to the global supply-demand imbalance.

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BoViet Solar Technology Company officially inaugurated its $50 million solar panel project in Bac Giang province only a year after getting its investment certificate.

The project has a designed capacity of 150 megawatts per year and spans 6.9 hectares.

Zhu Jun Yong, the company’s representative, told VIR that the firm sees Vietnam as a high potential market for “long-term production and export to ASEAN and the EU.”

This is the fourth solar panel project to be licensed in Vietnam, after the US’ First Solar’s $1.2 billion facility in Ho Chi Minh City, the $390 million project by IC Energy Company in Quang Nam province, and a $310 million joint venture between Vietnam’s WorldTech Transfer Investment Joint Stock Company and UAE firm Global Sphere. All of these other projects are currently stalled.

Recently, Global Sphere announced it would withdraw from its joint venture with WorldTech a year into construction because of the Vietnamese partner’s weak financial position.

First Solar and IC Energy Company announced last year that they were suspending development of their projects to the global supply-demand imbalance.

Hydraulic, coal-fired and gas-fired power plants are the major suppliers of electricity in Vietnam. But the country now has an ambitious goal to promote and use renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind because of the environmental problems caused by the country’s numerous hydro and thermal power plants and also the rising cost of fuel.

Renewable energy projects are also considered to be highly attractive in terms of wooing foreign hi-tech companies to the local energy market.

By By Phuong Thu

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