Two new wind power plants to produce 74 megawatts of power will be constructed in Binh Thuan Province by year-end, raising the number of renewable energy projects in the province to three, said Dinh Huy Hiep, vice director of the province’s Department of Industry and Trade.
Hiep said the two new wind power projects were the 50-megawatt Thuan Nhien Phong Plant developed by Asia Renewable Energy Joint Stock Company in Bac Binh District and a plant developed by Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) in Tuy Phong District with a generation capacity of 24 megawatts.
Hiep told the Daily on Thursday that Binh Thuan had an operational wind power plant in Tuy Phong with an electricity output of 7.5 megawatts deployed by Vietnam Renewable Energy Joint Stock Company (REVN).
He said REVN expected to install another 15 wind turbines at its plant to increase capacity to 30 megawatts.
According to the department, total wind power reserves in Binh Thuan are around 4,000 megawatts and the province has approved 12 new wind power projects totaling 1,500 megawatts.
However, many of the potential areas for developing wind power overlap with titanium reserves, causing the province to limit new wind power projects.
To help solve this problem, the province last week established the Binh Thuan Wind Energy Association to accelerate the development of local renewable energy as an optimal solution for future energy supply.
Hiep said the key objectives of the new association in 2010 would be solving the location question and helping to prepare new policies and an overall plan to develop the green energy.
The association this year will cooperate with Germany’s GTZ to continue research into technologies to exploit wind power reserves in the province.