Opening a Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh
Accelerating Renewable Energy Projects in Vietnam
Seogun Ki, Head of SK E&S Renewables Division (4th from right), Kwon Soonchil, Deputy Consul General of the Republic of Korea Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City (5th from left), and other attendees are participating in the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the SK E&S Vietnam Representative Office. Photo by SK E&S
SK E&S, the largest private renewable energy company in South Korea, is making a full-fledged leap as a global renewable energy operator by expanding its business scope from domestic to Vietnam. SK E&S announced on the 24th that it held an opening ceremony for its representative office related to renewable energy business in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on the 21st. The representative office will be responsible for operating and managing existing renewable energy facilities in Vietnam as well as overseeing new business initiatives.
SK E&S has been paying early attention to the rapidly growing renewable energy market in Vietnam and has been operating a 131 MW solar power facility in the southern Ninh Thuan region since 2020. It has also completed and is commercially operating offshore wind farms with capacities of 50 MW in 2021 and 100 MW in 2023 in the western Tien Giang region.
Based on its stable business operation experience in Vietnam, SK E&S plans to promote various renewable energy projects optimized for local demand. Earlier this year, to expand its renewable energy business in Vietnam, it established a joint venture, Solwind Energy, with the local company GEC (Gia Lai Electricity). They are currently developing a 7.4 MW rooftop solar project in the southeastern Tay Ninh region of Vietnam and a 756 MW onshore wind farm near the border with Laos.
SK E&S plans to secure carbon emission credits equivalent to the greenhouse gases reduced through the operation of solar and wind power plants and is also preparing an RE100 solution business to supply eco-friendly electricity to domestic and global manufacturing companies operating in Vietnam.
Vietnam is considered an optimal location for solar and wind power generation due to its abundant sunlight and consistent winds along its long north-south coastline. The Vietnamese government, which declared a ‘2050 net-zero’ goal, announced plans to increase solar and wind power generation from about 27% (21 GW) of total power supply in 2021 to 61% (254 GW) by 2045, actively promoting the expansion of renewable energy. Additionally, stable power supply is necessary to support rapid economic growth, and rapid growth in related industries is expected.
What has enabled SK E&S to expand its overseas renewable energy business is its differentiated competitiveness accumulated as the largest private renewable energy operator in South Korea and its continuous efforts toward global carbon reduction. A representative example is the ‘Imjado Solar Power Plant’ in Sinan County, Jeollanam-do, which began commercial operation in June. This facility transformed a salt field with an area 3.8 times the size of Yeouido (9.87 million ㎡) into the largest single-scale 100 MW solar power plant in Korea. Its annual power generation (130,000 MWh) is about 1.7 times the annual electricity consumption of all households in Sinan County, achieving an annual CO₂ reduction effect of approximately 60,000 tons. This is equivalent to planting about 400,000 pine trees.
In January this year, SK E&S also started construction of the ‘99 MW Jeonnam Offshore Wind Power Project,’ the first and largest private company-led offshore wind project in Korea, aiming for completion by the end of 2024. The offshore wind farm, located near Jaeundo in Sinan County, Jeollanam-do, is expected to generate 290,000 MWh annually, supplying electricity to about 80,000 households and reducing CO₂ emissions by 140,000 tons per year. Additionally, if offshore wind facilities are utilized for tourism, there are expected additional benefits such as increased income for local residents.
Through these various renewable energy projects, SK E&S has secured a renewable energy pipeline of about 3.6 GW, including 2.1 GW of solar and 1.2 GW of wind power, and plans to add about 1 GW to its pipeline annually to expand to 12 GW by 2030.
SK E&S is also standing out in the RE100 market, supplying eco-friendly electricity to domestic and global manufacturing companies. In March last year, it signed Korea’s first 20-year renewable energy power purchase agreement (PPA) for 5 MW with Amorepacific, and also signed PPA agreements with SK Specialty (50 MW for 20 years) and BASF, among others.
An SK E&S official said, "Our entry into the Vietnamese renewable energy market goes beyond simply securing overseas renewable energy assets; it will serve as a key base for overseas greenhouse gas reduction and a foothold for entering the Southeast Asian market. By securing large-scale pipelines domestically and internationally centered on solar and wind power, we will establish ourselves as a major renewable energy operator contributing to global carbon reduction."
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