AC Energy builds largest wind farm in Vietnam at 210MW

AYALA-LED AC Energy, Inc. is building what is touted to be the largest wind farm in Vietnam, raising its overall renewables capacity to 1,200 megawatts (MW).

On Thursday, the energy firm said it is constructing a 210-MW wind farm in the coastal area of Quang Binh province with partner AMI Renewables Energy Joint Stock Co.

The first stage of construction will deliver a capacity of 109.2 MW, while the second phase will bring 100.8-MW capacity.

“We are excited to embark on what would be the largest wind project for Vietnam as well as for AC Energy,” AC Energy President Eric T. Francia said in a statement.

The project will be using 50 V150 4.2 MW wind turbines with a hub-height of 145 meters from Danish manufacturer Vestas.

AMI AC Renewables, the two firm’s joint-venture platform, eyes the commissioning of the energy farm in the third quarter of 2021 to qualify for the $8.50-per-kilowatt-hour feed-in-tariff of the Vietnamese government, a policy mechanism that boosts renewables investments.

The power companies started their partnership centered on building clean energy plants in 2017. They aim to put up projects with a total capacity of 1,000 MW by 2025.

The Quang Binh Wind Farm project, according to AMI Renewables Chairman Nguyen Nam Thang, is an “important milestone in the strategic plan execution of AMI AC Renewables.”

AC Energy, which aims to be one of the biggest renewables producers in Southeast Asia, places its money in Vietnam, seeing it as a “key” market that is ripe for wind power, according to Patrice R. Clausse, AC Energy’s international chief operating officer. He added that the company wants to help the country meet its increasing power demand. — Adam J. Ang