Wind power mast catches fire in central Vietnam

A wind power mast worth hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars in Binh Thuan province caught fire on Wednesday morning.

Two fire engines and nine soldiers arrived at the scene, but the fire was too high up to access. After about 30 minutes, the flames died down on their own. The initial cause was determined to be a short circuit in the generator.

A leader of Tuy Phong district's People's Committee said the turbine that caught fire belonged to the Phong Dien 1 wind power plant, invested by Vietnam Renewable Energy JSC, with a total capital of VND2 trillion ($84.5 million) and 80 turbines in two phases.

Phase 1 of the project included 20 wind turbines with a total capacity of 30 MW and started generating power in 2009. The plant uses modern German technology. Each turbine is worth tens of billions of dong (VND10 billion = $423,000).

In 2020, a similar turbine fire occurred at the plant, causing damage of more than VND70 billion ($2.96 million).