Singapore’s SP Group acquires two Vietnam solar farms

SP Group, a Singapore-based provider of electricity and gas transmission and distribution services, has acquired solar power farm assets of 100 megawatts-peak (MWp) in central Vietnam’s Phu Yen province.

The two 50 MWp facilities are Europlast Phu Yen and Thanh Long Phu Yen.

The former, whose original owner is plastics maker EuroPlas, headquartered in the northern province of Ha Nam, has been operating since June 2019 and generates 60 gigawatts-hour (GWh) of clean electricity annually.

The latter plant, invested by Phu Yen-based Thanh Long Phu Yen Solar Power JSC, started operations in December 2020 and provides 70 GWh of clean electricity annually.

SP Group announced the two deals on Monday but did not disclose the acquisition prices. It said that the two solar farms will together help Vietnam reduce its carbon emissions by up to 105,000 tons annually.

The deals mark SP’s first investment in solar farm assets in Vietnam and are part of SP Group’s green ambitions in Vietnam to invest and develop 1.5 GW of utility-scale and rooftop solar projects by 2025.

“Despite global economic uncertainty, SP is confident of Vietnam’s continued long-term development. This is aligned with the company’s long-term vision to help Vietnam achieve its sustainability targets of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050,” the group said.

According to Brandon Chia, managing director of sustainable energy solutions (Southeast Asia and Australia) at SP Group, the acquisition is a key milestone of the group's long-term ambitions to help Vietnam transition towards a cleaner and economically sustainable future.

“In addition to renewables, we aim to help businesses and cities in Vietnam go green by leveraging our capabilities in proven sustainable energy solutions such as district cooling and our in-house digital energy management tools to optimize energy demand and to increase energy efficiency for commercial buildings, manufacturing facilities and industrial parks,” he added.

SP has since 2021 been developing rooftop solar projects in Vietnam through its partnerships and joint ventures, accumulating a total of more than 115 MW of rooftop solar assets to date.

The ventures include a partnership agreement with Korea’s CJ OliveNetworks to jointly invest, build, and develop up to 50 MWp of rooftop solar projects in Vietnam over the next two years. SP has also inked an agreement to install up to 20 MWp of rooftop solar power at three mega manufacturing factories in the southern province of Dong Nai for TKG Taekwang Vina, a Korean engineering manufacturer in the country.

SP in 2021 formed a joint venture with BCG Energy, a subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Bamboo Capital. The partnership then announced a tie-up with Vinamilk, Vietnam’s largest dairy company, to install 25 MWp of rooftop solar power at nine factories and seven farms of Vinamilk.

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC disclosed last week it would invest 1 billion euro (more than $1.06 billion) to purchase a stake in EDPR, around 5% in the world’s fourth-largest renewable energy producer, to help EDPR accelerate growth in renewables and energy transition in many markets, including Vietnam.

The GIC disclosure came after EDP, Portugal’s largest utility, announced Friday it will step up investment and spend 25 billion euro ($27 billion) over four years to nearly double its renewable energy capacity to 33 GW by 2026. In its strategic plan through 2026, EDP said 21 billion euro would be invested by its wind and solar unit EDP Renewables, or EDPR, and 4 billion euro would go directly to electricity grids.

In September 2022, Singapore-based EDPR Sunseap of EDPR acquired two solar projects in Vietnam’s south-central province of Ninh Thuan for $284 million, doubling its operational capacity in the country. The seller was Vietnam’s Xuan Thien Group.