On January 23, 2018, Conergy, Southeast Asia’s leading downstream solar specialist, announced their selection as the EPC contractor for a 30 MW_p solar photovoltaic (PV) power project in the south central coastal region of Vietnam, representing the first phase of a 300-MW clean energy pipeline.

The solar plant, planned for nearly 400,000 square meters, will be located in Ninh Thuan province and is being built by Conergy on behalf of investment firms BIM Group, headquartered in Vietnam and AC Energy, an investor from the Philippines.

The partnership between BIM Group and Conergy has received support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, who provided technical support to BIM Group since May 2017 during the early stage of the project development, including a pre-feasibility assessment on a scenario of a small size solar project as well as advices on investment procedures for renewable energy projects in Viet Nam. GIZ also played the key role in connecting BIM Group with potential German partners, including Conergy, via various business match making events in Vietnam and Germany.

“We are glad that the GIZ Energy Support Programme has been successful in matching the demand of investors from a promising solar market like Viet Nam with a worldwide experienced EPC contractor like Conergy. We believe that not only this is an important business partnership but it also provides opportunities for technology and knowhow transfer, which is highly crucial as solar energy is a very new and exciting area in Viet Nam.”, said Tobias Cossen, PDP Project Manager, GIZ’s Energy Support Programme in Viet Nam.

Conergy has 20 years of experience in the development, engineering and maintenance of photovoltaic systems and the company has installed over 300 solar plants in Europe, America, Middle East and Asia with a capacity of more than 2 Gigawatts.

Speaking at the ground breaking ceremony on 23 January in Viet Nam, Conergy COO Marc Lohoff said, “We are delighted to announce our selection as EPC contractor for yet another large solar project in the ASEAN region, and more importantly, our first project in Vietnam. We would like to thank and congratulate the Government of Vietnam, the people of the province on Ninh Thuan, local authorities in Ninh Thuan province and our clients for the development of this solar farm, which will help to provide some of the energy needed to fuel Vietnam’s successful development in the years ahead.”

Construction on the plant will commence in April 2018 and is scheduled to be connected to Vietnam’s power grid in December of 2018. Conergy is leading the overall planning, engineering, design as well as the component supply for the power plant and is collaborating with a Vietnamese partner for the PV plant installation.

The Ninh Thuan solar farm is one of dozens of similar projects that Conergy has executed in the ASEAN region. The farm is expected to generate 50,464 MWh of clean electricity per year and save approximately 21,629 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions