U.S. grant to fund battery storage system in Vietnam

An advanced battery energy storage system run by AMI AC Renewables in central Vietnam will be built by U.S. conglomerate Honeywell with a $3 million grant from the U.S. Mission to Vietnam.

AMI AC Renewables is a joint venture (JV) between Vietnamese company AMI Renewables and AC Energy, a member of Ayala Corporation, one of the Philippines’ biggest conglomerates. The JV in October 2021 received its first grant of $2.96 million from the U.S. Mission for a project in Khanh Hoa province on Vietnam's south-central coast.

For the second grant of $3 million, the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City plans to officially award it on May 9, when Honeywell will sign the construction deal with AMI AC Renewables.

The two grants are part of the U.S-Vietnam Energy Security Dialogue, an initiative expected to help energy-thirsty and fast-expanding Vietnam to secure carbon neutrality by 2050.

BESS is a vital component in today’s energy transition, and the energy storage facility will be integrated into a 50-megawatt solar farm owned by the JV in Khanh Hoa province, located 400 kilometers north of HCMC, Vietnam’s economic powerhouse.

The project will use cutting-edge American technology and equipment to demonstrate how advanced energy storage can reduce power losses and help Vietnam integrate greater renewable energy into its power system, according to the U.S. Consulate.

The Khanh Hoa energy storage project is the result of a study funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency to examine the feasibility of deploying advanced energy storage technologies in Vietnam. According to AMI AC Renewables, it operates 80 MW of solar power in Khanh Hoa and Dak Lak provinces, and is constructing a 252MW wind farm in Quang Binh province on the central coast.

Khanh Hoa borders Ninh Thuan province, the country’s largest hub for solar and wind power at an integrated farm. In late 2022, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $107 million financing project with BIM Wind Power JSC to support the operation of an 88MW wind farm in Ninh Thuan.

BIM Wind Power is jointly owned by AC Energy and Hanoi-based BIM Group, a leading renewable energy corporation in Vietnam. AC Energy and BIM have been developing renewable energy projects since 2019.

The ADB said AC Energy has around 3,700 MW of cleaner energy capacity in operation and under construction in Australia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, with a renewable share of 93%, among the highest in the region.

This April, ADB and the non-profit Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) announced a new $35 million capital fund to accelerate clean energy access and the transition from fossil fuels in Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

GEAPP said Vietnam’s energy storage initiatives will benefit much from the new fund. Priority programs include supporting BESS developments in Vietnam, and the early retirement of coal-fired power plant initiatives in Indonesia.