HDF Energy joins renewable power development in Vietnam

France-based HDF Energy has entered Vietnam’s fast expanding renewables market via a partnership with Saigon Asset Management Corp, or SAM.

The two sides, under a cooperation deal signed at the French Embassy in Hanoi early this week, will join hands to develop a chain of hydrogen and renewable energy projects in Vietnam, which is seeking to minimize carbon emissions towards its net-zero goal by 2050.

The deal serves as the foundation for the duo to implement their next activities to effectively use the resources and advantages of each side to build, operate, and commercialize power plants using HDF proprietary technology rights.

The French energy company said this was an effort to expand its footprint in Southeast Asia, following works in Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and the Philippines earlier this year. For SAM, the cooperation showed its expansion to hydrogen power in its investment portfolio.

"Vietnam has shown a great ambition to decarbonize its electrical grid. HDF will accompany this ambition. We are proud to collaborate with SAM to make green hydrogen happen in Vietnam," HDF Energy founder and CEO Damien Havard said.

SAM founder and CEO Louis Nguyen said: "The collaboration with HDF aligns with our sustainable and responsible energy investment philosophy. We believe Vietnam can accelerate toward its net zero emission target using its own available renewable resources."

At the event, French Ambassador to Vietnam Nicolas Warnery stressed the important role of hydrogen power and the focus of many governments around the world – including the French government with its France 2030 framework – in the investment and development of clean energy sources.

He added the HDF-SAM cooperation would contribute to Vietnam’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

As a global pioneer in hydrogen energy, HDF develops high-capacity hydrogen power plants that provide continuous or on-demand electricity from wind or solar sources, combined with high-power fuel cells supplied by the company.