An impressive start in Bac Lieu
About five years ago, people in Vinh Trach Dong Commune who worked hard in the shrimp raising ponds or collected oysters in alluvial grounds under the mangrove trees all year round could not imagine that in these windy alluvial grounds, a high-tech power complex would be built, bringing clean power generated from the endless wind source of their homeland.

According to the Asian energy survey programme of the World Bank (WB), Vietnam has wind power potential of about 513,360MW, more than 200 times as much as the capacity of the Son La Hydropower Plant. Bac Lieu Province with 56km of coastline is considered to have the best wind speed in the country (averaging 6.5 – 7.2 m/s and up to 10m/s in the peak months) and receive the main wind direction. In addition, it has uninhabited alluvial grounds which are very favourable for the construction and expansion of the wind power plants.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Danish counterpart Helle Thorning Schmidt witness the signing ceremony of energy cooperation between Cong Ly Construction, Trade and Tourism Company Ltd., and Vesta Group. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file US Secretary of State, John Kerry and Vietnam Development Bank CEO Nguyen Quang Dung witness the signing of a trade agreement for 52 wind turbines for the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant in phase 2. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file The equipment for the construction of the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant provided by GE, arrive at Cat Lai Wharf, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file Installing a rotor with 82,5m blades using a crane platform with a lifting capacity of 600 tonnes. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file Completing the pier of wind turbine No.4 in 2012. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file Turbines, each weighing more than 210 tonnes and made of special stainless steel, are installed in Bac Lieu. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file The system of super weight crane platforms imported from Singapore with a lifting capacity of 600 tonnes. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file

«       It is expected that phase 2 of the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant will be completed and start operation at the end of December, 2014, increasing the capacity of the plant to 320 million kWh, 16 times as much as its current capacity”. (To Hoai Dan, General Director of Cong Ly Construction, Trade and Tourism Co., Ltd.) »

Therefore, in September 2010 the construction of the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant commenced and it was the first wind power project in the Cuu Long River Delta. The plant was built in a submerged coastal area of 500ha in Vinh Trach Dong Commune with a total investment of 5,200 billion dong. It has a design capacity of 99MW and provides 320 million kWh of power a year. In May 2013, 10 wind turbines in phase 1 were officially merged into the national grid. As of March 2014, these turbines fed over 20 million kWh into the grid and reached a turnover of 35 billion dong.

Talking about the establishment of the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant, To Hoai Dan, General Director of Cong Ly Construction, Trade and Tourism Company Ltd, which is the investor of the plant, said that luckily he had met Peter Cowling, Renewables Leader of GE Energy (a subsidiary of the GE Group) and visited an offshore wind power project in the United States. So, he thought of the sea wind source in his homeland. Later, he invited Peter to Vietnam and discussed the wind power potential in Bac Lieu. That was the basis for the Development Bank of Vietnam (VDB) and the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Eximbank) to sign a memorandum of cooperation in the form of co-financing the projects under the prioritised areas, such as energy development, environmental protection, infrastructure construction and social security services. Then, the two sides pledged to provide one billion dollars for the development of wind power in the Cuu Long River Delta, including the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant project.

Recently, we revisited Vinh Trach Dong where phase 2 of the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant (starting in February 2014) with 52 axis turbines was taking place. The construction units mobilised over 1,000 workers and machines that worked round the clock.

The equipment for the construction of the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant was state-of-the-art and was imported from the United States. The axis wind turbine supplied by the GE Group has a rotor with 82.5m blades which are very suitable for grade-3 winds in Bac Lieu. According to GE experts this type of wind turbine is most widely used in the electrical industry and there are more than 16,000 units around the world. Each turbine weighs over 210 tonnes, is made of special stainless steel and is resistant to corrosion in the atmospheric conditions of the ocean. It is installed by a crane platform with a lifting capacity of 600 tonnes. In addition to the blades and generator, the turbine also takes the measurement of wind speed and sends the transmission of wind speed data to the controller, the gearboxes, the speed stabilising units and the processor of wind direction to the turbine.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung leads a delegation to visit the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant in April 2014. Photo: Duc Tam/VNA The ceremony of merging power from the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant into the national grid on May 29, 2013. Photo: The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant’s file The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant, the largest key project of wind power in the country, is situated on a vast alluvial area in Vinh Trach Dong Commune where there is an endless resource of wind power in the Cuu Long River Delta. Photo: Trong Chinh/VNP The electrical wires to merge power from the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant into the national grid. Photo: Le Minh/VNP The 22/110KV transformer station at the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant. Photo: Le Minh/VNP The 22/110KV transformer station at the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant. Photo: Le Minh/VNP

«       The Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant has 62 wind turbines with a capacity of 99MW. If Bac Lieu Province receives the approval of the Central Government, by 2030, it will invest in expanding the plant to increase the plant’s capacity to 480MW with 300 axis turbines. »

According to Pham Trong Thuc, Head of the New and Renewable Energy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the cooperation between Vietnam and the United States in developing wind energy will help Vietnam enhance energy security in the future. GE’s provision of wind turbines for the Bac Lieu wind power project in late 2013 was the first cooperation project on wind energy exploitation of Vietnam and the United States.

At a seminar on “Development of Wind Energy” held by the US Consulate General and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City, many experts in wind power said that Vietnam had started to partially exploit its wind power potential. Along with Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant, many wind power projects in the country have been successfully implemented, helping open the future for the new and clean energy industry in Vietnam.

New life in the wind power area
Thanks to wind power, Vinh Trach Dong, a poor commune, seems to have a new breath of wind which generates electricity for the life of people. Now the commune has completed 13/19 criteria of the new rural construction, in which eight bridges and roads were built with a total investment capital of over 1.3 billion dong.

According to Le Tan Can, Vice Chairman of Bac Lieu City People’s Committee, previously Vinh Trach Dong Commune was poor and the villagers who did offshore fishing had to leave their native village to earn their living. Now, thanks to the development of the shrimp farming and the wind power plant which attracts investment from many places, their lives have become more stable.
In the wind power area in Vinh Trach Dong Commune there is an aquaculture farm and 20 production cooperatives. The model of shrimp raising associated with the environmental protection of Sau Ngoan (or Le Hong Ngoan), the “king of shrimp”, in Bien Dong A Hamlet next to the wind power turbines should be mentioned. Apart from shrimp, he also raised some other aquatic creatures, such as cockles to eat leftover food and clean the bed of the pond. Importantly, he has contributed a significant amount of his revenue from shrimp to the construction of roads, schools and houses, purchase of learning materials for poor students who are thirsty for knowledge and helping the needy families in the area.

The living standards of Khmer ethnic people in Bien Tay A Hamlet, Vinh Trach Dong Commune have improved thanks to electricity generated from the Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant. Photo: Le Minh/VNP The locals in Vinh Trach Dong and Hiep Thanh Communes have access to electricity generated from the wind power resource in their native land. Photo: Trong Chinh/VNP The model of raising shrimp of Le Hong Ngoan, the “shrimp king” in Bien Dong A Hamlet, next to the wind power turbines. Photo: Trong Chinh/VNP The model of soft-shelled crab raising of Nam Dong Cooperative in Bien Tay A Hamlet. Soft-shelled crab is a unique product which is exported to the Japanese and European markets. Photo: Le Minh/VNP

«         Vietnam has 48 registered wind power projects with a total capacity of 4,876MW, of which three projects have started operation. In its development goal, Vietnam will give priority to increasing wind power capacity from 1,000MW in 2020 to 6,200MW in 2030.»

In Bien Tay A Hamlet there is a rather successful model of soft-shelled crab farming of Nam Dong Cooperative. This is one of three concentrated soft-shelled crab rearing areas in the Cuu Long River Delta. Ninh Quoc Tri, chairman of the cooperative said that soft-shelled crab is a “unique” product which is much sought after in the Japanese and European markets.

In the wind power area the local people have been assigned to protect the forests in combination with aquaculture. Nguyen Huu Dat in Hiep Thanh Commune has rented six hectares of coastal forests to raise shrimp and crabs for five years. After deducting rent and expenses for food, he earns about 50 million dong a year. This is a stable income compared to the offshore fishing in the past.

But the most impressive thing to us is probably the image of a new life of the Khmer ethnic people in Huu Nghi residential area in Bien Tay A Hamlet, Vinh Trach Dong Commune. In this area, houses, roads and schools for the local people were built and all the families have electricity. A new life is emerging, dispelling the sadness of the temporary life under the mangrove forests in the past.

Talking about the role of wind power in Bac Lieu Province, Vo Van Dung, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee confirmed that Bac Lieu Wind Power Plant had great significance in promoting the socio-economic development, contributing to the implementation of the province’s industrialisation and modernisation as well as attracting more and more domestic and foreign investors to Bac Lieu to cooperate in developing the economy of the locality.