Boviet Solar begins factory construction without paperwork, fined $18,000

Boviet Hai Duong Solar Technology Co. Ltd., has been fined VND450 million ($17,700) for beginning work on a solar panel factory without an approved environmental impact report.

The company is a subsidiary of Boviet Solar Technology, which is backed by China-headquartered new energy business Boway.

According to a July 4 decision issued by Vietnam's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the company was found to have completed 80% of the 5.9-hectare production line No.1, 50% of a 1,814-square meter chemicals warehouse and other tasks related to the solar panel factory in northern province of Hai Duong.

In addition to the fine, the firm has been prohibited from project construction activities for nine months.

This is not the first fine that Boway-backed companies in Vietnam have had to pay.

In January 2015, February 2018 and July 2023, Boviet Solar Technology Co. Ltd, was fined VND290 million ($11,407), VND440 million, and VND1.89 billion, respectively, for several environmental violations.

These included transferring waste to other companies without sufficient waste treatment capacities and disposing wastewaster not meeting environmental requirements.

In August 2023, Boway signed an agreement to lease 20 hectares of land in Hai Duong province’s Cong Hoa Industrial Park for a $350 million project – a factory manufacturing photovoltaic panels, solar energy conversion modules, high-tech alloy strip plates and other items.

In November 2023, Boviet Solar Technology Co., Ltd., based in the neighboring province of Bac Giang, received approval for a $120 million 20-hectare project at the Cong Hoa Industrial Park in Hai Duong province. Employing around 1,000 people, the project was to manufacture solar cells and solar energy conversion modules totaling 3 GW a year, all for export.

According to the approval granted then, the factory was to become operational within 18 months of receiving the investment certificates and run until April 2058.

In April 2024, Boviet Solar Technology Co. Ltd. said it would invest $294 million in a photovoltaics factory in Pitt County, North Carolina, the United States. The facility is expected to have an output of 2 GW of solar panels and 2 GW of PV cells annually.

Boviet Solar said that the project, featuring two phases, will be its first manufacturing facility in America and the second globally, following its successful track record of photovoltaics cell and module production in Vietnam.