The installation of 52 more wind turbines in phase 2 of the Bac Lieu wind power plant began on February 24 at Vinh Trach Dong commune in Bac Lieu city of the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu.

According to the Cong Ly Construction, Commerce and Tourism Ltd. Co., the project’s investor, the construction of infrastructural facilities of the phase 2, which costs 4.2 trillion VND (197 million USD), already began since November, 2013.

Up to 65 percent of the workload has been completed to enable the plant’s phase 2 to become operational in the second quarter of 2016, said To Hoai Dan, Cong Ly company General Director.

Dan said that the first 20 turbines of the phase 2 will supply electricity to the national grid on May 29, raising the plant’s generation capacity to 48 MW, which will be lifted to 73.6 MW by the operation of additional 16 turbines on September 2, 2015.

On April 30, 2016, the plant’s capacity will reach 99.2 MW with the last 16 turbines running.

In the phase 1, the plant’s 10 turbines with a capacity of 16 MW have supplied 58 million KWh to the national grid after 14 months.

With over 3,000 kilometres of coastline and numerous islands within its national boundaries, Vietnam has one of the largest wind power potentials in Southeast Asia with a total estimated capacity of 24,000 megawatts, equal to the combined capacity of all the currently existing thermoelectric plants consuming high levels of imported coals.

According to figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam currently has 48 wind power projects with a combined capacity of 5,000 megawatts registered at different stages and mainly located in central and southern provinces.

According to the national power plan through 2020, wind power is being prioritised and encouraged to fulfil the target of installing a combined capacity of 1,000 megawatts by 2020 and 6,200 megawatts by 2030.-VNA