Agribank auctions Vietnam’s first wind power project, bids starting at $49.6 mln

State-owned Agribank is auctioning the Phong Dien 1 wind power plant, Vietnam’s first such facility, with bids starting at VND1,205 billion ($49.6 million).

The facility, invested in by Vietnam Renewable Energy Engineering Company Limited, is collateral that the investor has pledged with the bank, Agribank announced Tuesday.

As of November 30, the firm’s debt with Agribank stood at VND1,205 billion ($49.6 million), including the principal of VND728.8 billion and the rest comprising interest and penalties for late payment.

The end of working hours on December 8 will be the deadline for submitting bids, Agribank said.

The Phong Dien 1 wind power plant, with an investment of VND2,000 billion ($82.36 million), was inaugurated in the central province of Binh Thuan in April 2012, four years after construction began.

It has 20 wind turbines of 1.5 MW each. It can generate 85 million kWh of electricity per year and reduce emissions of 58,000 tons.

The then Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had lauded the project as a milestone for wind energy development in Vietnam in general and in Binh Thuan province in particular. It will help the country reduce emissions and adapt to climate change, he added.

The project’s first phase of 30 MW started operations in 2009, but the second phase failed to meet the government deadline for preferential feed-in-tariff (FiT) in November 2021.

In 2020, a turbine caught fire at the plant, causing damage of more than VND70 billion ($2.96 million). Another fire accident happened in July this year.