The joint venture announced its plans to build solar farms in the provinces of Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak, to be commissioned in time for the June 2019 solar feed-in tariff deadline.

“We are excited to expand our development initiatives in Vietnam and work with our local partner AMI Renewables,” said Eric T. Francia, AC Energy president and CEO. 

“We appreciate the strong commitment of Vietnam government to promote renewables, and the strong support from our banking partners that are providing project finance,” he added.

The projects are estimated to cost US$83 million, financed with debt and equity. AC Energy will participate with at least 50% economic share.

Indovina Bank of Vietnam and RCBC of the Philippines will provide non-recourse financing for the Dak Lak and Khanh Hoa projects respectively.

AC Energy formed a platform company with AMI Renewables last year to build renewable energy plants in Vietnam, including the 352-MW Quang Binh wind project.

It becomes AC Energy’s second renewable energy platform in Vietnam after it partnered with BIM Group of Vietnam to develop more than 300 MW of solar power in the regional neighbor.

In January this year, the joint venture broke ground with a 30-MW solar project valued at VND800 billion (US$34.23 million), with plans to expand the capacity to more than 300 MW in Vietnam’s Ninh Thuan province.

In August, the joint venture signed EPC and financing documents, increasing the target capacity of the solar farm to 280 MW. The project is estimated to cost around US$237 million, which will be financed by debt and equity. AC Energy will participate with a 30% voting stake and about 50% economic share.

According to a master plan, solar power is expected to become the main new renewable energy source in the future, with installed capacity to be increased from around six to seven megawatts at the end of 2017 to 850MW by 2020, accounting for 1.6% of the country’s power generation and 12,000MW by 2030 or 3.3% of Vietnam’s power generation.