The Blue Circle has received an Investment Certificate from the Vietnamese authorities for its 40 MW Dam Nai project

Southeast Asia wind energy developer The Blue Circle has received an Investment Certificate from the Vietnamese authorities for its 40 Megawatt (MW) Dam Nai wind project, in Ninh Thuan province, South Vietnam.

Sixteen months after having been granted site exclusivity from the provincial authorities, the Singapore-based company, along with its Vietnamese partner TSV, have been awarded an Investment Certificate for 40 MW, opening the process to sign a long term lease, as well as Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with EVN, the national power utility.

The site of 933 hectares along the Highway One has seen a 100 m meteorological mast erected by The Blue Circle in May last year to measure wind velocity and has a potential for a total capacity installed of 70 to 100 MW.

Olivier Duguet, Chief Executive Officer of The Blue Circle said:

“This approval for 40MW is only the first phase of the total project. With the grid connection on site, as well as very good wind speeds, the Dam Nai project has all the attributes to succeed even in a low Feed-In-Tariff environment.

It is a great achievement and recognition of the professional development work which has been done by our team in Vietnam during the last three years”.

The next steps for the project will be undertaking engineering studies along with the remaining permitting and financing. Construction is scheduled to start in 2017 for the first phase, to be followed by other phases in the subsequent years. Total potential investment for the first phase is expected to reach US$60 million.