The Bank for the Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), the BIDV Insurance Corporation (BIC) and Bach Khoa Energy Corporation (SolarBK) on September 20 signed a cooperation agreement to guarantee financial support for household rooftop solar power project.

The project, known as BigKilowat (BigK), will support the development of clean energy by offering monetary support for customers who want to install rooftop solar panels.

BIDV will provide 70 per cent of the total cost for households to install solar electricity systems, with the goal of sponsoring 277,000 home installations in Viet Nam by the end of 2019.

Nguyen Ngoc Quynh, the director of SolarBK’s marketing department, said 748 solar power systems have been installed on roofs across the country since July, including 327 in HCM City.

She said BigK will make it much more convenient for residents and homeowners to turn their rooftops into part of the green energy solution, letting them save on electricity while also supplying power to the country’s grid.

Each system will save at least US$500 in power fees and cut three tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

Vice Chairman and General Secretary of Viet Nam’s Electrical Engineering Association, Nguyen Tan Loc, said rooftop solar panels could help meet the country’s increasing demand for power in the coming years.

He said Viet Nam’s power use is still growing rapidly – at a rate of 10.6 per cent each year – and some new power projects have been delayed.

Loc said the national power grid has been overloaded when use is high in the country’s southern regions.

SolarBK, a leading solar power producer in Viet Nam, also plans to build the first 4.4MW solar farm in Da Nang to supply 7.7 million kWh per year to the city’s power grid while reducing annual carbon emissions by 5,000 tonnes.

It also developed a wind-solar renewable energy system on the Truong Sa Islands, and a renewable energy–powered desalination system on Song Tu Tay Island.

SolarBK was the first company to manufacture solar panels in Viet Nam. It invested $17 million in a plant in Vung Tau Province and began exporting solar panels to North America, Europe, the Middle East and North Asia in 2017.

SolarBK’s first solar project won the ‘Outstanding Project’ award in the Smart Renewable Energy category at the Smarter Energy Awards 2018 in Munich, Germany. — VNS