Indonesia and Vietnam to blaze solar trail in SE Asia

• 7 years ago (2016-11-07)
• David Flin

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Indonesia and Vietnam have each announced that they aim to have a solar capacity of 5 GW by 2020, up from close to nothing now. This would place the countries among the top 15 solar producers in the world, according to 2015 data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and would account for nearly 9 per cent of expected power generation in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Hoang Quoc Vuong, Vice Minister of Industry and Trade for Vietnam, said: “It will come very quickly as it takes a short time for construction.” However, with initial costs traditionally seen as a big deterrent to solar projects, both Indonesia and Vietnam will be offering opportunities for subsidies via feed-in tariffs (FIT), allowing producers to lock in sales of renewable energy at fixed prices for a few years. Vuong said: “If we promote solar, there has to be subsidy.”

Maritje Hutapea, Director at the Renewable Energy Directorate General of Indonesia’s Energy Ministry, said: “Feed-in trariffs have been issued so that the 5 GW target can be achieved.”

France’s Engie is in talks with Indonesia’s state power company PLM for two solar projects of 200 MW.