Landville given final warning

The provincial committee in an announcement sent to the company late last month said that it would not extend the timeline for Landville Energy’s feasibility study, and that Landville Energy should file an investment application to the committee no later than June 2014.

Landville Energy received the green light from the province to conduct a feasibility study into the project in August 2013. The investor had to complete the study and submit its investment application to the provincial committee within six months. The details of the project such as investment cost and capacity were not unveiled.

“The company has not yet completed all the procedures and has failed to complete its feasibility study on time. Therefore, the provincial committee may reject the proposal,” the Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee said in the announcement.

The local authorities have also ordered the company to make a commitment to put the wind farm into operation by the first quarter of 2016.

“If Landville Energy fails to meet the June deadline for filing an investment application, the provincial committee will assume the company no longer wants to invest in this project, and the committee will withdraw its in-principle approval from the project,” the committee stated, adding that the province would not compensate any costs relating to the feasibility study.

The threat by the Ninh Thuan Provincial People’s Committee reflects the province’s policy to weed out weak investors from potential wind farm projects in a context where many domestic and foreign investor in the renwwable energy sector are planning to flock to the province.

Located in the southern-central coastal region, Ninh Thuan is said to be an ideal site for wind power. According to a World Bank survey, the province boasts ideal 7-7.5 metre per second gusts of wind at a height of 65 metres.

The Ninh Thuan Provincial Department of Planning and Investment reported that five investors had received licences to develop wind farms with the total capacity of 344 megawatts (MW) in the province so far. Belgium’s Enfinity Asia Pacific Limited secured an investment certificate for building a $251 million wind farm in March 2011. Covering an area of 553 hectares in Thuan Nam and Ninh Phuoc districts, Enfinity’s project has the total capacity of around 124.5MW, making it one of the largest wind power projects in Vietnam.

Source: VIR