SK ecoplant will develop a 700MW solar and wind power plant with Vietnam's leading renewable energy company, Bamboo Capital Group Energy (BCGE).
On March 22, SK ecoplant announced that it had signed a business agreement with BCGE to jointly cooperate and develop renewable energy projects in Vietnam at its headquarters in Susang-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The signing ceremony was attended by Kim Jung-hoon, CEO of SK ecoplant's Solutions BU, and Pham Minh Tuan, President of BCGE.
BCGE is a top-tier renewable energy company in Vietnam, currently developing and operating about 600 MW of solar power plants. It also has more than 800 MW of wind power under development.
Through this agreement, the two companies will jointly develop 700 MW of renewable energy projects, including 300 MW of onshore wind, 300 MW of rooftop solar, and 100 MW of ground-mounted solar. This includes the Gia Lai wind farm in Vietnam's wind-rich Central Highlands. They will also explore other high-potential renewable energy projects.
SK ecoplant will participate in the projects from the business development stage and secure carbon credits. SK ecoplant has already completed registration for the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Vietnam in 2021. CDM is a project to secure carbon credits from the United Nations (UN) based on the performance of greenhouse gas reduction projects as one of the greenhouse gas reduction measures. The carbon credits can be used to offset greenhouse gas emissions or sold to other companies.
Vietnam is an emerging country with high growth and energy demand growing at more than 10% per year. In recent years, the country has been increasingly investing in renewable energy instead of fossil fuels. In May of last year, the country's National Electricity Development Plan announced plans to focus on accelerating the transition to renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. In particular, it is expected to focus mainly on wind power by 2030, with rapid development expected.
In fact, Vietnam's renewable energy capacity has more than quadrupled from 5.2 GW in 2019 to about 21.6 GW last year, according to Kotra. The country's low latitude location provides abundant sunlight, which makes solar power generation more efficient. It also has a long coastline with an average annual wind speed of more than 5 m/s and a large number of offshore islands, which are considered to have great potential for wind power generation.
SK ecoplant is contributing to global carbon reduction based on its value chain from renewable energy business development, including solar and wind power, to equipment manufacturing and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC). In August last year, the company was named a key player in the Concho solar project in Texas, USA, and in February this year, it signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with SK hynix to directly supply electricity generated from a 100MW renewable energy plant.
