The Korea Herald

지나쌤

SK Ecoplant eyes bigger footing in Vietnam’s solar market

By Hwang Joo-young

Published : June 11, 2024 - 15:00

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Kim Jung-hun, managing director of SK Ecoplant (fourth from left), and Lee Sang-hoon, general manager of Samil Vina (third from left), along with other attendees, pose for a photo during the completion ceremony held at the Samil Vina factory in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, Monday. (SK Ecoplant) Kim Jung-hun, managing director of SK Ecoplant (fourth from left), and Lee Sang-hoon, general manager of Samil Vina (third from left), along with other attendees, pose for a photo during the completion ceremony held at the Samil Vina factory in Dong Nai province, Vietnam, Monday. (SK Ecoplant)

South Korean energy and environmental solutions provider SK Ecoplant said Tuesday that it is ramping up efforts to seek a bigger footing in Vietnam’s solar panel market with a recent solar panel installation within an industrial complex.

The company held a ceremony on Monday to celebrate the completion of a solar panel rooftop for a plant owned by Samil Vina, a Vietnam-based textile exporter located in Dong Nai province.

All energy generated from the 1-megawatt solar power plant will be used by the plant, without the need for additional power grid infrastructure as well as energy loss during transmission and distribution.

Topsun, a Korean company in which SK Ecoplant invested in 2022, will supply the solar modules. Topsun and SK Ecoplant have also collaborated on projects such as the Concho solar power plant in Texas and a direct power purchase agreement with SK hynix.

In addition, SK Ecoplant plans to expand the deployment of rooftop solar power plants in Vietnam. Currently, the company is working on rooftop solar projects totaling nearly 7 megawatts in industrial areas in Dong Nai and Binh Duong provinces as well as Hai Phong city.

In March, SK Ecoplant signed an agreement with Vietnam's top-tier renewable energy company, Bamboo Capital Group Energy, for 700 megawatts of renewable energy projects.

On the same day, SK Ecoplant signed an additional memorandum of understanding with the state-run Metropolitan Landfill Management Corporation and BCGE to develop a greenhouse gas reduction project utilizing renewable energy in Vietnam, aiming to acquire international greenhouse gas reduction credits.

For its carbon credit acquisition initiative, SK Ecoplant completed the registration of a Clean Development Mechanism project under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Vietnam in 2021.

"Vietnam is a place where the demands for stable power supply and carbon reduction coexist due to economic growth and industrial development," said Kim Jung-hun, SK Ecoplant's managing director. "We aim to address global climate issues by leveraging SK Ecoplant's expertise in renewable energy solutions."