Wind energy in Vietnam: 4th wind power with 12 wind turbines in Binh Thuan

The first stage of the wind farm will cost around VND1 trillion (US$46 million) to have 12 wind turbines installed for a combined output of 24 megawatts.

A power company in Binh Thuan Province in central Vietnam this week started work on a wind power plant, which is scheduled to go into operation next year.

Binh Thuan Wind Power Company said the plant, the third in the province and fourth in the country, is going to occupy 400 hectares of the coastal province.

Vietnam is running three wind power plants including two in Binh Thuan and another in the Mekong Delta’s Bac Lieu Province, with a total capacity of 54 MW.

The country now depends on hydropower plants for up to 40 percent of its electricity demand.

It has been taking steps to develop cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. It plans to have 1,000 MW of wind power by 2020.

Investors have committed to build more than 45 wind power projects to generate more than 4,800 MW in total, but most of them are still on paper.

Binh Thuan and its neighboring province Ninh Thuan, both with high potential for wind power, this year revoked several delayed projects.

The government’s pricing rules require state-owned Electricity of Vietnam to pay wind power plants 7.8 US cents a kWh, roughly the average retail price in the country.

But Bui Van Thinh, vice chairman of the Binh Thuan Province Wind Power Association, told news website Saigon Times Online that the pricing support is still not enough to draw investment.

The association has requested the government to raise the price to 10 US cents this year and 12 US cents in 2017.