AC Energy Vietnam wind farm starts commercial operations

AYALA-CONTROLLED AC Energy Corp. said its Vietnam wind farm venture in partnership with Singapore’s The Blue Circle has opened for commercial operations.

The project is the 40-megawatt (MW) Phase 2 Mui Ne wind farm in Binh Thuan, Vietnam.

The project has eight turbines with a capacity of 5 MW each, AC Energy said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Monday.

AC Energy added that the turbines, which have rotor diameters of 158 meters, are the largest used in any Asian onshore wind project.

“This two-piece blade technology is a game-changer for onshore sites as it will allow larger capacity machines, lowering our cost of energy and enhancing competitiveness of wind energy,” The Blue Circle Chief Operating Officer Hervé Grillot said.

The Mui Ne wind farm has the potential to be expanded to 170 MW and is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in Vietnam by about 130,000 metric tons per year.

The wind farm qualifies for a feed-in tariff of $0.085 per kilowatt hour.

“We are thankful to our long-standing partners at The Blue Circle for seeing this project through amidst the pandemic, and we are encouraged that ACEN’s other partnerships across Vietnam will likewise bring to fruition more renewable energy projects in the country,” AC Energy Head of International Group Patrice R. Clausse said.

ACEN is the company’s stock exchange ticker.

The project was completed in eight months, with around 450 construction staff involved and an estimated cost of about $70 million.

AC Energy currently has a total of 2,900 MW in attributable capacity in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and Australia, and renewables make up an 80% share of its capacity.

The Blue Circle is the wind farm’s operator. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago