GE (NYSE: GE) has signed a contract with local developer Cong Ly Company Ltd. to provide 10 of its 1.6-82.5 wind turbines and operations and maintenance services for phase one of the Bac Lieu Wind Farm, totaling 16 megawatts of power generation capacity.
Cong Ly Company Ltd. also has plans for a second phase of the project, which would add up tp 120 megawatts of power to help resolve the country’s chronic power shortages. The project will bring clean power generation to Vietnam’s Mekong Delta and also is expected to create a number of local jobs during the construction phase.
“This will be the first large-scale industrial/energy project in Bac Lieu province, which has huge potential in wind energy, along with agriculture and seafood farming,” said Mr. To Hoai Dan, chairman of Cong Ly Company Ltd. “We expect that the project will help to improve the social and economic conditions of the province by creating new jobs requiring technical and industrial skills, while producing much-needed power. We also hope this first large-scale wind farm project will help to attract more investments into the Bac Lieu province in the future.”
Located about 200 kilometers southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, the Bac Lieu project will be the first wind farm in the Mekong Delta. It will be designed to protect the environment of the region, which is known as the “rice basket” of the country and accounts for the largest amount of Vietnam’s seafood exports.
The GE wind turbines chosen for this project feature an 82.5 meter rotor for class III wind conditions, making it a good match for the Bac Lieu site. The 1.6-82.5 builds on the success and the global experience of GE’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the industry’s most widely deployed megawatt-class machine with more than 16,000 installed worldwide.
“The Bac Lieu project illustrates our commitment to offer our customers the best technology to meet their specific project requirements,” said Nguyen Xuan Thang, country executive for GE Energy in Vietnam. “We are focused on helping Cong Ly achieve success with this project, which is a significant milestone for the Bac Lieu province.”
The Bac Lieu wind project further expands GE’s role in Vietnam, where the company has been active since the 1960s, providing technological support for a variety of power generation projects throughout the country. With an installed base of more than 2,000 megawatts, GE equipment today supplies approximately 18 percent of the country’s power generation capacity.
In 2009, GE increased its investment in the future of Vietnam by establishing a new manufacturing plant near the seaport city of Hai Phong. The facility produces wind turbine components, and the first wind turbine generators built there were shipped in May of 2010.