First Mekong Delta wind project signs up GE

Vietnam's first wind farm in the Mekong Delta has signed up US industrial-giant GE to provide 10 turbines for the project's first phase. The local developer Cong Ly Company is in charge of the Bac Lieu Wind Farm. No value for the contract has been released but the total project financing was expected to reach USD263 million.

The first phase is to generate 16 MW of power generation capacity and GE hints it is in the running for the second phase of the scheme. When the project was given the official go-ahead in March 2010 it was reported the scheme would have a final output of 100MW.

One survey by the World Bank concluded that Vietnam has greater wind energy potential than Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, possibly capable of producing 513,360 MW annually.

"This will be the first large-scale industrial/energy project in Bac Lieu province, which has huge potential in wind energy, along with agriculture and seafood farming," said To Hoai Dan, chairman of Cong Ly Company Ltd.

"We expect that the project will help to improve the social and economic conditions of the province by creating new jobs requiring technical and industrial skills, while producing much-needed power. We also hope this first large-scale wind farm project will help to attract more investments into the Bac Lieu province in the future."

According to the GE, its wind turbines were chosen in part because of an 82.5 meter rotor for class III wind conditions, making it a good match for the Bac Lieu site, 200 kilometres southwest of Ho Chi Minh City in the Mekong Delta.