Trungnam Group sells stake in solar power plant

Solar power panels seen at Trung Nam Thuan Bac Solar Power Plant in the central province of Ninh Thuan.

The Trungnam Group has sold a 49 percent stake in a central Vietnam solar power plant to an electricity equipment manufacturer.

The 49 percent stake, whose value has not been disclosed, has been bought by A Chau Industrial Technology, a manufacturer of electrical equipment that has been showing increasing interest in solar power development in recent years. It now operates five solar power plants nationwide.

Trungnam, the HCMC-based group with interests in real estate, infrastructure and energy, had begun operating its VND5 trillion ($217.63 million) 204-megawatt Trung Nam Thuan Bac Solar Power Plant in Ninh Thuan Province almost three years ago.

The plant could produce 450 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year with its 700,000 solar panels.

However, the group had in early February requested intervention from the National Assembly and the government after the plant’s output was cut because the national grid was getting overloaded. It had said then that on January 31, the plant’s output was reduced by half to just 118 megawatts.

The cut in output, effected by state-owned utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) that said it was a necessary step to ensure power stability, exerted intense pressure on Trungnam, with plunging revenues making it difficult to repay loans.

Source: e.vnexpress