Page 12 - AfrElec Week 06 2021

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GRID

Sunseap signs 20-year
agreements to supply

energy to Vietnam’s

national grid

SOLAR energy solutions provider Sunseap
Group has signed 20-year power purchase
agreements with state-owned utility Vietnam
Electricity to supply clean energy to the
country’s national grid.
The Singapore-based firm will generate
solar energy from seven newly-commissioned
solar plants in Vietnam. The plants have a
total capacity of 23.2 Mega Watt peak (MWp)
and comprise close to 60,000 photo-voltaic
(PV) panels and 370 DC/AC inverters.
Sunseap expects the plants to yield around acquisition of a stake in New Jersey power in Taiwan, expected to come online towards
40.4mn kilowatt-hours of clean energy per plant Linden CoGen. the end of the year. It also has a stake in the
year. This is equivalent to delivering clean The 972MW natural gas-fired cogeneration 644MW Nam Theun 1 hydroelectric power
energy to around 13,000 households in facility is located in Linden, New Jersey, and plant currently being built in Laos.
Vietnam and reducing carbon dioxide by is majority-owned by Linden Topco. The deal Electricty Generating Authority of
more than 20,500 tonnes annually. involves EGCO taking a 28% stake in Linden Thailand is the country’s leading state-owned
The plants were installed in a span of Topco. power utility, and falls under the Ministry of
three months amid the Covid-19 pandemic, The facility sells energy, capacity and Energy. It is responsible for electric power
Sunseap said in a press statement on ancillary services into the New York System generation and transmission for the whole
Wednesday. The firm built the PV systems Operator (NY-ISO Zone J) and the PJM PS country, as well as bulk electric energy sales.
on top of factory and warehouse buildings North power market in New Jersey, which are
across southern Vietnam in various provinces, two of the most capacity-constrained power
including Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh markets in the United States. It also has long-
Phoc and Binh Duong. term steam and electricity sales contracts with SOL AR
Sunseap signed the power purchase large industrial offtakers.
agreements under Vietnam Electricity’s “This acquisition marks the first Viet Nam has installed 6
Feed-In-Tariff 2 programme to promote investment by EGCO in the US, a large
investments in renewable energy sources. market with over 1,100GW of installed coal plants’ worth of solar
This is achieved by guaranteeing producers an capacity and vast opportunities in renewable
above-market rate for selling into the grid. and supporting gas-fired power facilities,” says in a year
Sunseap co-founder and chief executive EGCO Group president Thepparat Theppitak.
Frank Phuan said Vietnam has become “The investment will allow EGCO to enter the One of the few bright spots in COVID-19
an attractive market in the region due to US market, and position it for new investment pandemic has been a leap in the amount of
favourable climate conditions for harnessing opportunities in the US.” electricity being generated from renewable
solar energy, stable and supportive In a notification to the Stock Exchange of sources.
government policies for solar implementation, Thailand, EGCO Group says EGCO Linden 2020 saw the biggest fall in energy demand
as well as a strong network of well-established II, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of EGCO, since World War Two, according to the
developers, off-takers, contractors entered into a purchase and sale agreement International Energy Agency (IEA). That’s a
with AEIF Linden SPV, LLC and Highstar drop seven times larger than that caused by
Capital GP IV on January 29. The transaction the global financial crisis of 2008/9.
is expected to close in the second quarter of At the same time, the share of energy
GAS-FIRED GENERATION this year following successful completion of all generated from renewables leapt 7% last
closing conditions. year. “It’s mostly driven by solar energy,”
Thailand’s EGCO Group Electricity Generating Authority of said Dr Fatih Birol, IEA Executive Director.
EGCO is a subsidiary of state-owned
“Renewables appear to be immune from
gains foothold in US power Thailand (EGAT). It has an ambitious COVID.”
expansion programme both in Thailand and
One place that illustrates this trend is Viet
market internationally, involving both fossil fuels and Nam, which offered generous incentives to
households and businesses to install rooftop
renewables.
Bangkok-based Electricity Generating Public EGCO holds a 25% stake in Yunlin solar last year. By the time the scheme ended,
Company Limited (EGCO Group) has made Holding GmbH, which is developing the 9.3 gigawatts of extra generating capacity
its first investment in the US market, with the 640MW Yunlin offshore wind farm project had been added – equivalent to six coal-fired

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