Germany's Fuhrländer to build Vietnam's first wind turbine plant

Fuhrländer of Germany is to build a US$25m wind turbine factory in central Vietnam to supply renewable energy projects in the Southeast Asian country and overseas.

The new manufacturing plant, which was announced earlier this week, will be located in the coastal province of Binh Dinh and will represent Vietnam's first wind turbine factory.

The company said the factory will initially produce 1.5MW turbines, before adding 2.5MW models to the production line. Fuhrländer, which has wind turbine plants in Germany, the US and Brazil, did not provide an estimated completion date for the Vietnam facility.

The German company has teamed up with Vietnam Windpower Joint Stock Co to deliver the project. While the backers of the local company have not been identified, Vietnamese media reported last year that renewable energy research firm Thien Nang, construction equipment makers Lilama Corp and Coma, and lender Techcombank were in talks with Fuhrländer for a wind turbine factory.

Fuhrländer supplied the five turbines for Vietnam's first wind farm, located in the central province of Binh Thuan, although all the equipment for the $55 million project was sourced from Germany.

The wind farm is expected be connected to the national grid within the next few weeks, with an initial installed capacity of 7.5MW. An additional 15 turbines are to be erected over the next few years to bring the total capacity to 30MW.

Germany is fostering relations with Vietnam in hopes of developing partnerships for wind power projects in the country. Last month, state-backed development agency German Organisation for Technical Cooperation provided a $1.4m grant to Vietnam aimed at developing the nation's wind power industry.