PROINSO and VU PHONG ENERGY GROUP Win the Asian Power Award for 1.453 MWp Commercial Solar Rooftop Project
United Kingdom (December 8 2021): The Asian Power Awards has announced PROINSO, a global leader in the solar energy market, and its partner VU PHONG ENERGY GROUP as winners of the Asian Power Award in the awards categories “Environmental Upgrade of the Year” and “Solar Power Project of the Year” for the 1.453 MWp commercial rooftop solar project in Vietnam.
The awards were expertly judged by John Yeap, Partner at Pinsent Masons; Mike Thomas, Managing Director at The Lantau Group; Petteri Härkki, Managing Director & Regional Director Asia at AFRY; Wen Bin Lim, Director, ASPAC Renewable Sector Lead at KPMG Advisory; and Gervasius Samosir, Partner at YCP Solidiance.
The award-winning 1.453 MWp solar rooftop project is one of the most impressive projects to be installed under the BLT scheme (Build – Lease – Transfer) – a model pioneered by PROINSO in collaboration with its local partner VU PHONG ENERGY GROUP in Vietnam and financed by ECOLIGO.
Lac Long is one of our pioneering projects in Vietnam using the BLT (Build – Lease – Transfer) partnership model. LAC LONG COMPANY is the world’s largest pedicure spa manufacturer having distributed their products to several key markets worldwide. This solar power project allows them to demonstrate their commitment to offering the most outstanding products and services whilst at the same time minimizing their environmental impact.
The BLT model is a win-win for all parties involved including businesses, investment funds and EPC contractors. It gives a business the opportunity to promote green production whilst using clean power at low pricing and without the need for upfront investment capital. The model is especially suited for businesses looking to prioritise and make use of most of their capital to invest in technology, expand production scale, or concentrate on research and development (R & R&D). The self-production and self-consumption whilst only generating 20% of the capacity to the national grid does not put any added pressure on the transmission and distribution network whilst still helping Vietnam to achieve its renewable energy development and GHG emissions reduction goals.
The project will:
• Help to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1,843 tons a year
• Generate electricity output of around 2,105 MWh/year
• Protect the environment (the equivalent of planting over 81,000 trees)
The Lac Long project was divided into two parts and was erected on the roofs of three factories. As a result of this VU PHONG chose the SMA Sunny High power PEAK1 75kW (SHP 75-10) inverter system to provide high efficiency, steady operation, and increased flexibility appropriate for the actual installation conditions. Even though there are up to 17 sets of inverters the investor and operator of VU PHONG ENERGY GROUP can collect system data on the IoT platform daily using SMA monitoring and management software following a precise timeframe. We can detect and isolate the problem, pinpoint the source of the decline in the amount of electricity produced, locate the issue as quickly as possible and solve it immediately.
The innovative 1.453 MWp installation uses the SMA EnnexOS platform, one of the only Solar Management systems on the market, and enables the project to be future proofed. This user-friendly platform helps to optimize communications as well as monitor and control the PV system, making it easier for customers to actively observe the efficiency of their PV system in real-time. The EnnexOS platform also allows the future modular integration of a management platform which optimizes the use of energy and allows plug-in management of EV charging, battery storage, solar production and energy efficiency of existing electrical items. In the future this platform will also allow for a ‘prosumer’ platform for peer-to-peer energy sales, which we believe will be a reality in the coming years.
The other unique aspect of the development of this project is the innovative financing. Many solar projects do not meet the criteria of commercial banks and other institutional investors, so in order to bridge this financing gap and allow businesses in emerging markets to have access to clean energy this project was crowd funded by ECOLIGO, enabling impact-driven individuals to fight the climate crisis with their investments.
