NDO – The Asia Development Bank (ADB) will provideDa Nhim – Ham Thuan – Da Mi Hydro Power JSC (DHD) a loan of US$37 million to install a 47.5MW peak floating photovoltaic (PV) solar power facility on the reservoir of DHD’s existing 175 MW Da Mi hydropower plant, following a signing ceremony in Hanoi on October 2. |
The project is the first large-scale installation of floating solar PV panels in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia. “This project will help to boost the share of renewable energy in Vietnam’s overall energy mix and decrease the dependence on imported fossil fuels such as coal,” ADB Private Sector Operations Department Deputy Director General Christopher Thieme said. “The pairing of these two clean energy technologies – hydropower and solar – is a simple but highly innovative achievement which can be replicated elsewhere in Vietnam and across Asia and the Pacific,” he noted. Chairman of the Board of DHD Nguyen Trong Oanh said: “We are proud to be the first company in Vietnam to construct a floating solar power plant on a hydropower reservoir,” adding that the project aligns with DHD’s strategy of investing in renewable energy to decrease dependence on fossil fuels, contribute to energy security, mitigate climate change, and promote environmental protection and sustainable socio-economic development. Hydropower reservoirs in southern Vietnam have vast solar power potential. The financing package for the project includes a US$17.6 million loan from ADB’s ordinary capital resources, a blended concessional fund co-financed by the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia and its follow-on fund, the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia II, and a US$4.4 million parallel loan from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency. |