Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 29 2021

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Iberdrola moves into Vietnam with

acquisition of Sowitec Vietnam

VIETNAM IBERDROLA has acquired Asian green devel- Offshore wind contributed €600m of Iber-
oper Sowitec Vietnam in a move that gives it drola’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax,
access to a 550-MW renewables pipeline, includ- depreciation and amortisation) last year, Iber-
ing a floating solar project and five onshore wind drola said.
farms. The company in 2020 said it would invest
The projects are due to be developed between €75bn over the next five years to double its
2022 and 2024, and range from 50 MW to 250 renewable energy capacity.
MW. As well as onshore wind, Vietnam offers con-
Vietnam is looking to expand its renewables siderable potential for offshore wind, and the
capacity, and Iberdrola is keen to break into a world’s leading OEMs, such as Vestas and Sie-
new market. mens Gamesa, are all developing projects in the
Vietnam plans to install 20,000 MW of country.
new renewables capacity by 2030 by offering The country has up to 309 GW of onshore
long-term PPAs and through courting foreign and offshore wind potential, according to the
investment. World Bank. Vietnam is eager to catch up and
Sowitec Vietnam is part of Germany’s Sow- to develop renewables in order to lessen its reli-
itec Group, which has 6,000 MW of green ance on dwindling domestic gas production,
capacity under management and is present in 14 imported LNG and coal.
countries. Renewable capacity in the Asia-Pacific region
Iberdrola said it wanted to build on its renew- is set to rise by 60% to 815 GW by 2025, with
able energy leadership in Europe and America solar power surpassing wind as the main driver
with increased presence in the Asia-Pacific of growth.
region in a bid to become the world’s largest Recent analysis from Rystad Energy found
renewable energy company. that green capacity will grow from 517 GW to
Iberdrola is also considering spinning off its 815 GW by 2025, with solar nearly doubling
offshore wind business to raise cash to support from 215 GW to 382 GW.
development in new markets. However, the steepest growth will be shown
The company has 1,300 MW of offshore by offshore wind, which is forecast to jump from
capacity in operation and another 2,600 MW 9 GW to 51 GW. Onshore wind’s capacity is also
under construction. set to climb from 266 GW to 341 GW.™

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