The 70-hectare plant, designed to have a capacity of 49 MW, began construction in March 2018 at a cost of more than VND1.4 trillion ($59.77 million ). It was built by JGC Vietnam, a Japan-owned engineering company specialising in EPC (Engineering – Procurement – Construction) services and technical solutions for various industries.
With over 209,000 330Wp solar panels, the facility is expected to add 103 million kWh annually to the national grid and provide electricity for about 47,000 local households. It is also estimated to help reduce CO2 emission by some 29,000 tonnes per year.
In his remarks at the opening ceremony, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Vo Ngoc Thanh spoke highly of efforts by TTC Group in putting the solar power into operation on schedule and asked the group to continue investing in other local key projects to boost the province’s socio-economic development.
Gia Lai Electricity JSC took the occasion to present 10 charity houses, worth a total of 500 million VND, to disadvantaged households in Krong Pa district.
Krong Pa is seen as ideal for developing solar power thanks to its year-round sunny weather. The annual temperature in the district averages more than 25 degrees Celsius with about six hours of sunshine a day, or about 2,500 hours each year while the standard used to build a solar power plant is 1,500 sunshine hours per year.
Solar power is expected to create plenty of jobs for local people and improve living standards in Krong Pa, one of the poorest districts in Gia Lai,
According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, the province has become a hotspot for solar power with 33 solar power projects invested by 23 firms, having a total capacity of 4,000MWp.
Among the projects, two have received approval from the provincial authorities with combined capacity of 98MWp, 11 with total capacity of 675MWp have been submitted to authorities for approval, and 20 others with total capacity of 3,195MWp are still being evaluated.
In addition, 12 investors are now looking for possible locations for another 17 solar projects with total capacity of 1,330MWp.
