Sunseap begins construction of 168MW solar farm in Vietnam

Sunseap International, Singapore’s clean energy provider Sunseap Group’s unit, has broken ground on its 168MW solar farm in Vietnam.

Being built with an investment of $150m, the solar farm will be spread over 186ha of land in Ninh Thuan province on Vietnam’s south-central coast.

Once operation begins, this will be Vietnam’s largest solar farm, claimed Sunseap.

This solar farm is not only the largest solar collaboration between Singapore and Vietnam, but also the first solar project in Vietnam to be led by a Singaporean firm.

The farm is expected to be operational by next June. Once operational, it will provide electricity to 200,000 homes in Vietnam, and create over 200 permanent jobs.

Sunseap, along with its joint-venture partners InfraCo Asia and CMX Renewable Energy Canada, will sell the power generated by its solar farm to Vietnam’s national grid at the mandated solar feed-in tariff of 9.35 cents/kilowatt hour for the next two decades.

The clean energy has to be delivered to the grid by June 2019.

InfraCo Asia is an infrastructure developer and investor of the Private Infrastructure Development Group, while CMX Renewable Energy Canada is a solar developer based in Canada.

Sunseap co-founder and director Frank Phuan said: “We are excited to reach another important milestone in this solar project for Vietnam and for Sunseap. It is testament to the government’s commitment to promoting renewable energy and to supporting foreign investments in this sector.

“For Sunseap, this marks a significant step in our efforts to bring affordable, reliable and clean energy to beyond Singapore. As our name implies, we want the sun to be a major contributor to a sustainable future for Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.”

Enterprise Singapore, a government agency that encourages enterprise development in Singapore, has lent its support to Sunseap to develop  new technologies, and build manpower capabilities in its expansion into Southeast Asia.

It also connected Sunseap with industry stakeholders, including local and international financiers.

Sunseap is a player in the solar energy segment in Vietnam. It has several projects in pipeline in many countries including Cambodia, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Australia