Siemens provides equipment for Vietnam’s largest solar farm

The signing ceremony for Vietnam’s largest solar farm

The 204 megawatts peak (MWp) capacity farm is the first solar project for Siemens in Southeast Asia.

The project will deliver up to 425 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, enough to supply approximately 200,000 households with electricity and saves around 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The deliverables include inverters, power and distribution transformers, gas-insulated medium-voltage switchgear, circuit-breakers, and a monitoring and control system. All transformers are to be delivered as Sensformer with digital interface.

The overall project constitutes an “Electrical Balance of Plant” (eBoP) solution, and involves a number of Siemens units, headed by Medium Voltage and Systems. The solution includes all the electrical engineering components needed to equip a photovoltaic plant.

“We are proud to be able to offer the best solution that will play a vital role in supporting the energy transformation in Vietnam,” said Stephan May, CEO of the Medium Voltage and Systems Business Unit at Siemens.

The project, in the southern province of Ninh Thuan, will take shape by mid-2019.

Solar panels will generate a combined direct current (DC) voltage of 1,500 volts (V). Inverters will convert the DC to 660 V alternating current (AC), and transformers will first step this up to 33 kilovolts (kV) and finally to 220 kV.

This will then be fed into the high-voltage grid and the power distributed around the country. The components needed up to the 33kV level are designed as a “plug-and-play MV station”, and can therefore be installed as a standalone unit without major construction cost.

“With the capacity of 204MW Trung Nam Solar Power Plant is the largest single plant of its kind in Vietnam, thus making Trung Nam a true pioneer in solar energy in Vietnam. We are very pleased to partner with Trung Nam Group for this truly remarkable benchmark project thus creating clean and environmentally friendly energy for Vietnam,” said Siemens Vietnam president and CEO Pham Thai Lai.

“Vietnam’s need for energy is rapidly growing. To cover this demand, we must increase the share of renewables, among other things. The government is aiming at developing 18 gigawatts of generating capacity by 2030. Siemens is supporting us with our solar project so we can reach the government targets for developing renewable energy in Vietnam”, said Nguyen Tam Tien, general director at Trung Nam Group.