Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Enters Wind Power Market in Vietnam

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC) announced on March 23 that it had signed agreements with local companies in Hanoi to lay the groundwork for developing the wind power market in Vietnam. As part of the deals, Doosan will build its first overseas wind power plant in the country. The company will also participate in a localization project of a thermal power plant in Vietnam.

Geewon Park, Chairman and CEO of DHIC, who accompanied South Korean President Moon Jae-in on his trip to Vietnam, as part of the specially formed business delegation, signed a business agreement with Vietnam’s state power company Vietnam Electricity (EVN) on March 23 to develop an energy storage system (ESS)-linked 3MW offshore wind power demonstration project. In attendance at the event were Duong Quang Thanh, Chairman of EVN, and Hyangreol Lyu, President of Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN).

Under the agreement, EVN will support DHIC in securing the test site and acquiring approval on the project. DHIC, acting as an EPC contractor, will be supplying wind turbine equipment, including the ESS, and will be performing O&M services jointly with KOEN.

That same day, DHIC also signed an agreement on the development of a wind farm with CC1, a Vietnamese general construction company, which holds a wind power generating license for a total capacity of 105MW. Based on the agreement, DHIC will be supplying and providing maintenance services on the main equipment for two wind turbine farms in the Binh Thuan Province of Southern Vietnam, which is where CC1 holds a business license. The Vietnamese wind power market is considered to hold particularly strong growth potential among the Southeast Asian countries. Vietnam plans to expand its wind power generation capacity from the current 180MW to 6000MW by 2030.

In preparation for entering the overseas wind power market, DHIC developed a 3MW wind turbine model in 2011. It is set to commercially launch a 5.5MW offshore wind power generation technology. It also completed the construction of the Tamra Offshore Wind Farm, the largest of its kind in Korea, in September of last year.

“The outcome of this project will be an important turning point for DHIC in terms of its renewable energy business,” Geewon Park, Chairman and CEO of DHIC, said. “DHIC has contributed to Vietnam’s industrial development through continued investments and expanded cooperation in the power generation sector. I hope we can also achieve mutual growth by pursuing close cooperation in the wind power generation business.”

DHIC will also participate in a thermal power plant localization project in Vietnam as part of the “Memorandum of Understanding on Power Business Cooperation” signed by Ungyu Paik, Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy and Tran Tuan Anh, Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade. Under the agreement, DHIC will form a task force team within three months and begin negotiations with its Vietnamese partner. On March 23, DHIC received a letter of appreciation from EVN for its contribution to the stabilization of the Vietnam electricity market through the early completion of the Vinh Tan 4 Coal-fired Thermal Power Plant. DHIC plans to complete construction of the plant by the end of this month, three months ahead of the original schedule, after initially receiving the order for the Vinh Tan 4 Coal-fired Thermal Power Plant in 2013. The business milestones achieved on the recent trip, such as advancing into Vietnam's wind power market and participating in the thermal power plant localization project in Vietnam, is deemed as being the result of the partnership maintained over the past 24 years with Vietnam, during which localization and CSR activities had been actively pursued.

DHIC had established a plant equipment manufacturing company JV HANVICO with Vietnam's state-owned company, DMC, in Hai Phong, Vietnam in 1995. In 2007, under the request of the Vietnamese government, DHIC had invested USD 300 million in the relatively underdeveloped central region of the country, to establish Doosan Vina as a local production base.

Doosan Vina is contributing to job creation, human resource development and promotion of the local economy by employing more than 2,000 local workers. Moreover, it has been stressing the importance of CSR programs and has been carrying out various activities, such as building a seawater desalination plant in An Binh Island free of charge and providing medical services annually since its establishment. In 2011, it received the Corporate Social Responsibility Award, an award given by the Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment to foreign-invested companies.

Since 2012, DHIC has won orders amounting to around 7 trillion won, such as the Mong Duong 2, Song Hau 1, and Vinh Tan 4 projects, based on the strong partnership and trust established with Vietnam over the years.