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Mainstream secures partner for 500MW

Ben Tre offshore wind farm in Vietnam

VIETNAM IRISH-BASED developer Mainstream Renewa- leading global renewable energy investor such
ble Power has teamed up with local investor and as Mainstream. We believe that our knowledge
contractor Advance Information Technologies of the market together with Mainstream’s inter-
(AIT) to build a 500-MW offshore wind project national expertise will be a perfect combination
in Vietnam’s Ben Tre Province. to bring the Ben Tre project, as well as other wind
Mainstream Renewable Power said that the and solar projects, to success.”
wind farm would reach financial closure and This is Mainstream’s second offshore wind
start construction in 2024, while commercial farm in Vietnam. In 2017, the company began
start-up would be achieved by 2025/26. developing the Phu Cuong Soc Trang wind farm
“Mainstream recognises the great potential together with Phu Cuong Group.
of offshore wind in Vietnam as well as the ambi- The offshore wind farm is in Soc Trang Prov-
tion of the Vietnamese government to develop a ince, along the coastline of the Mekong River
sustainable green economy,” said Ram Natarajan, Delta, 180 km south-southwest of Ho Chi Minh
Mainstream CEO – Asia Pacific, in a statement. City.
“Mainstream is delighted to be working with They already have permission to build the
a strong and reliable partner in AIT to develop 400-MW first phase, and earlier in 2020 applied
the Ben Tre project to the best international to develop a 1,000-MW second phase, taking
standards, supplying much needed renewable total expected capacity to 1,400 MW. It will be
energy capacity to the country’s fast-growing the largest wind farm in Southeast Asia when it
economy. The JV has the potential to expand and is completed.
will also look to develop further wind and solar The first 200-MW of phase 1 of the wind farm
projects in Vietnam in the near future.” is expected to become operational in 2023.
The 500-MW Ben Tre project received a site Recent analysis from Rystad Energy found
survey licence earlier in 2020, and since then that Vietnam was becoming the most promising
Mainstream has completed a feasibility study market for offshore wind in Southeast Asia.
and submitted a power development plan (PDP) It highlighted state-owned oil company Pet-
to Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade. roVietnam’s target of 100 MW of renewable
The project’s backers are preparing to include capacity by 2025 and 900 MW by 2035, while
the wind farm in the Vietnamese government’s various private developer such as Mainstream
forthcoming Eighth Power Development Plan were also investing.
(PDP 8), which covers 2021-2030 and also looks Rystad said that significant offshore wind
ahead to 2045. projects on the cards in the Asia-Pacific region,
“AIT has nearly 20 years of experience work- excluding China, were Yunlin, Changfang and
ing in the energy sector in Vietnam both as EPC Xidao in Taiwan, Thang Long in Vietnam, being
contractor as well as renewable energy investor,” developed by local and international firms led by
Hoang Thanh Hai, chairman of AIT, said. VietSovPetro, MHI Vestas and Société Générale,
“AIT is honoured to be working with a and Incheon in South Korea.™

Week 44 04•November•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P9