Ninh Thuan provincial authorities have decided to cancel nuclear power development and reserve land for renewable energy projects such as solar power.

Billions of dollars have been poured into solar projects

Billions of dollars have been poured into solar projects in Vietnam, especially after the government decided to purchase solar power at high prices to encourage investments in the field.

Ninh Thuan province, which has the lowest rainfall in the country, is one of the favorite destinations for investors. Most recently, Trung Nam Group kicked off a 204 MW solar project in Thuan Bac which has investment capital of VND5 trillion. 

The plant, to be operational in June 2019, will provide 450 million kwh a year to the national grid. This is one of the most important power projects in the national power development strategy.

Also in Ninh Thuan, BIM Group has joined forces with Ayala Corporation from the Philippines to develop a 30 MW solar project, while CMX Renewable and Sunseap, its Singaporean partner in a joint venture, has kickstarted a project capitalized at VND4.4 trillion.

According to Pham Van Hau, deputy chair of Ninh Thuan, investors flock to the province to set up renewable power projects because of advantageous natural conditions. 

The average wind speed is 7-8m per second, the number of sunshine hours is over 2,800 hours per annum, and the radiation rate is over 1,800 kWh per square meters a year.

Ninh Thuan is programmed to develop renewable energy with 9,000 MW of solar power and 1,400 MW of wind power to be developed by 2020.

The programming is more reasonable if compared with the previous plan to build Ninh Thuan 1 and Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plants with total capacity of 4,000 MW. 

Ninh Thuan decided to stop pursuing a plan to develop nuclear power so as to develop renewable energy. The province hopes it can attract investments in solar projects with the total capacity of 4.85 GW by 2030.

The investment wave in solar power has also reached other southern provinces such as Tay Ninh, Long An and Binh Thuan.

In Tay Ninh province, Xuan Cau group has teamed up with Thai B.Grimm to develop a 420 MW solar plant, capitalized at $420 million. 

In Long An province, Bamboo Capital, together with Hanwah, is developing a 100 MW project. Fecon is developing a 500 MW project in Binh Thuan. 

Meanwhile, Dak Lak province has asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade to add three solar projects to the national power development plan.

Source: VietNamNet