B. Grimm Power, the power generation arm of Thailand-based B.Grimm Group, has reached a 20-year agreement to supply electricity from its 257-MW solar photovoltaic (PV) farm in Vietnam's coastal province Phu Yen to state-run EVN, stated the Thai company.
The signing ceremony. Source: B. Grimm Power.
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When it starts commercial operation in June next year, the project will enhance B. Grimm Power's 2019 revenue by 15-20% and contribute to the company's target to increase it installed capacity to 3,100 MW in 2022.
The sales of electricity to EVN, the sole distributor of electricity in the country, is at 9.35 US cents per kWh for 20 years with the commercial operation date set on June 30, 2019.
The ground-mounted PV solar farm in Phu Yen is one of the larger systems of its kind in Vietnam, of which the Thai company has acquired an 80% stake from Truong Thanh Vietnam Group (TTVN) ) in August for about US$35.2 million.
B. Grimm Power is actively pursuing power ventures in Vietnam with current combined generation equity at 677 MW.
Phu Yen is one of the large scale projects approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam, which is in line with Vietnam's policy to promote environmentally-friendly energy over the next two decades.
At present, B. Grimm Power operates a total of 33 power plants, 15 of which are of co-generation, 15 solar, two hydro-power and a diesel-fuelled, with a combined generating capacity of 2,220 MW.
In July, B. Grimm Power agreed to pay US$34 million for 55% stake in a 420-MW solar project of Vietnamese construction company Xuan Cau in Vietnam. The project, located in Tay Ninh, south-west of Vietnam, is expected to commence operations in June 2019. B. Grimm Power has also signed a deal to sell the output from the project to EVN.
According to a master plan, solar power is expected to become the main new renewable energy source in the future, with installed capacity to be increased from around six to seven MW at the end of 2017 to 850MW by 2020, accounting for 1.6% of the country's power generation and 12,000MW by 2030 or 3.3% of Vietnam's power generation.
