Canadian Investors Invest in Binh Dinh Province

Seldat Vietnam Co., Ltd (coming from Canada) went to Vietnam to set up business by implementing the garment factory project.

Department of Planning and Investment of Binh Dinh province has just granted certificate of investment registration for Seldat Vietnam Co., Ltd (investors from Canada) to invest in Seldat Vietnam garment factory project in An Hoa village, Nhon Khanh commune, An Nhon town, with a total investment of nearly 1.2 million USD.

Accordingly, the project will invest 5 production lines with designed capacity of 2 million products/year, products are mainly exported to the US market. The project is built on an area of 2,440m2 and is expected to be completed and put into operation in quarter II/2017.

The project is licensed within the first days of the year so that it can be considered a meaningful gift for the efforts of the Binh Dinh province in attracting investment. BinhDinh province has consistently implemented reforms, simplification of administrative procedures, thereby contributing to create an open investment environment, attracting investors to come to the province. Up to date, Binh Dinh has 69 FDI projects, total registered capital of 783 million USD, mainly are investors coming from potential economies in the world like the US, China, Japan, France, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand….

In 2017, in order to continue to be an attractive destination for investors, besides the administrative reform, leaders of Binh Dinh province will strengthen dialogue with businesses in order to listen to their desire, disassemble any difficulties and obstacles to improve the investment and business environment, promoting economic development of the locality.

Currently, the Department of Planning and Investment of Binh Dinh is finalizing the draft scheme for implementation of the model “one door, one door interconnection”, preparing to submit to the leaders of Binh Dinh province for consideration and promulgation. At the same time, the E-Regulations project (electronic regulation system). The website has been completed, fully published the procedures relating to foreign investment so that investors can access and search for information about the investment procedures when investing in Binh Dinh.

According to Director of Investment Promotion Centre (IPC) of Binh Dinh, Binh Dinh province’s goal is to continue to invest in development of Nhon Hoi Economic Zone and industrial zones as planned for these places to become seeds of the province’s growth in the sectors such as industry, tourism services, urban; create motivation and basis so that until 2020, Binh Dinh province can basically become developed province of the central region.

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Vietnam's ancient town to light up main attractions with solar power

The $147,000 project uses funding from the German government.

Street lanterns win the hearts of many tourists to Hoi An. Photo by VnExpress/Tran Viet Anh

Hoi An, the much loved ancient town in central Vietnam, has started a new project to use solar power for its major attractions, with funding from the German government.

The $147,000 project will set up solar panels at the one-hectare (2.5-acre) Hoai River Square to provide a 55 kWh source for sound and lighting systems at street arts programs, entertainment centers, street lanterns and the iconic 400-year-old Japanese bridge nearby, officials said.

The German government will cover 90 percent of the cost, while Hoi An and its German twin city Wernigerode will chip in the rest.

Once a popular trade port in the region, Hoi An is now one of the most peaceful, greenest towns in the country, drawing tourists to its picturesque wooden houses, pagodas, street-side eateries and hundreds of tailor shops.

A travel forum run by U.S. magazine USA Today described Hoi An as one of 10 most beautiful places in Southeast Asia, a place where one can find “tranquility and timelessness.”

“Best Day on Earth,” a new book from the UK travel publisher Rough Guides, listed Hoi An’s full-moon festival among the world’s most extraordinary travel experiences for the hundreds of lanterns that glow along alleys and river banks around town.

The solar power project is hoped to help the city develop sustainable tourism that is suitable with its strategy to become an eco-friendly destination.

Source: E.vnexpress

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Renewable energy accounts for only 0.1 percent of Ho Chi Minh City’s electricity consumption.

Energy experts from the World Bank proposed a program to help Ho Chi Minh City develop solar power systems at a meeting on Tuesday, Saigon Times reported.

Solar panels are used to produce renewable energy at the photovoltaic park in Europe. Photo by Reuters

To start with, the bank will work with the city to carry out an overall assessment of the benefits of installing solar energy systems on rooftops, provide technical support for local energy experts and find financial resources as well as equipment suppliers to implement the program.

Last year, Vietnam’s largest economic hub consumed about 3,575 MW of electricity, of which renewable energy accounted for 3.96 MW, or 0.1 percent.

The city had set a target of increasing its use of renewable energy to 1.74 percent, equivalent to 96 MW, by 2020.

To reach this goal, Ho Chi Minh City needs the World Bank's program to be launched by 2018 at the latest, Le Van Khoa, the city's vice mayor, has said.

Since 2015, the city has encouraged residents and businesses to invest in solar power systems by granting a subsidy of VND2,000 ($0.1) per kW used for domestic purposes or sold to the national electricity grid.

The city’s Power Corporation is searching for a pricing mechanism from the Vietnamese government to boost the development of solar power projects.

Vietnam is aiming to increase residential solar power usage nationwide from 4.3 percent in 2015 to 50 percent in 2050.

Source: E.vnexpress

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Vietnam utility cuts power purchases from China

Vietnam Electricity refrained from buying electricity from China last month following a surge in domestic output.

Solar Energy Power Future in Vietnam

Vietnam’s electricity output during the first eight months of this year has increased by 11.2 percent to 117.1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), including 1.2 billion kWh imported from China, said the country’s utility group EVN said Saturday.

Hydropower plants which in the first eight months of 2016 generated 32.7 percent of Vietnam's electricity, often face shutdowns during the dry season, causing nationwide outages. Meanwhile, coal has taken over hydro power as the leading source of electricity in the country as it has generated 38.03 percent of the total output so so far this year. 

In response to fast growing demand for power, Vietnam is building more coal-fired thermal plants and buying electricity from neighboring China.

However, EVN said last month it stopped buying power from China for the second month in a row.

The state-run group which started buying electricity from Chinese power plants in the border province of Yunnan in 2004, expects it will not have to import more power from the neighboring country in four consecutive months.

EVN plans to import about 950 million kWh from China to meet the domestic power needs in 2016, down 44 percent from 2015.

EVN said Vietnam's power output is expected to reach 183 billion kWh this year.

The average energy consumption in Vietnam grew 13 percent from 2006-2010, and by about 11 percent from 2011-2015, said Le Tuan Phong, deputy head of the General Directorate of Energy, adding that the country is on the path towards powering itself by 2030.

The country’s power production is expected to grow at an annual rate of 14 percent between 2015 and 2030.

Vietnam is also restructuring its power sector by breaking up its retail power monopoly EVN to develop a competitive retail power market by 2030.

And it is aiming to generate enough energy to power almost every home by 2020 and increase residential solar power usage to 50 percent of households nationwide by 2050.

Source: E.vnexpress

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Investors await solar power price regulations

HCMC – Many investors have been ready to take part in the solar power industry but they are still waiting for specific regulations from the Government to set prices.

“We have prepared US$30 million, bought a land lot in Binh Thuan Province and obtained a license for a 24MW solar power project. All we are waiting for is specific rules on solar power prices before starting construction,” Diep Bao Canh, general director of Red Sun Solar Energy JSC, said at a seminar on solar power development in southern Vietnam on November 23.

Other companies are also looking for government regulations on prices. According to a draft, relevant agencies have suggested a solar power price of 11.2 to 13.2 U.S. cents per kWh, which is attractive enough for investors to join the renewable energy sector, Canh added.

Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of the HCMC Energy Conservation Center, said the sector has seen positive signs with investors such as Thanh Thanh Cong, Song Hong Group, Hoa Sen Group and foreign firms from Thailand and Germany. They have plans to develop projects from 30 to 100MW each.

However, investors still face difficulties due to the lack of policies on planning and pricing as well as land use procedures. The challenges are expected to last three or five more years.

To overcome these challenges, investors are advised to invest in solar powerprojects replacing power sources at industrial zones, factories and restaurants which are customers of the Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN). The solution is more effective than investing in a solar farm, Tuoc said.

Speaking to the Daily at the seminar, Gavin Smith, director of Dragon Capital’s Clean Development fund, said the fund management firm has plans to invest US$15 million in 14 solar power projects with pre-feasibility studies already done. The projects, which belong to a solar power development program in the south, are expected to go up in HCMC, Dong Nai, Long An and Binh Duong provinces with the combined capacity of 18 million kWh a year.

Despite huge potential, investors in Vietnam still face some disadvantages, especially low power prices, Smith said.

Among ASEAN countries, Vietnam has yet to keep up with Thailand and the Philippines, which are attractive to investors thanks to solar power prices at 16 U.S. cents per kWh. Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh have also offered high electricity prices, he said.

Vietnam has strong potential for solar power development but solar energy is still little used.

Soure: english.thesaigontimes

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