[Solar Power and Firewood] Laundry Drying Rack

1.85 Billion Won Worth of Scrap 'K-Taiyang' Left Abandoned
Visiting the ODA Site in Quang Binh Province, Vietnam

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh, the president of the women's association in Ban Laokon village, is showing how to use the battery she purchased. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Nguyen Thi Anh (49 years old) squatted down and picked up a spanner. There was a car battery placed nearby. ‘Dongnai’. Made in Vietnam. She turned a button and moved the wires. She adjusted the screws. She also touched the yellow wire.

‘Pat!’

Sparks flew. She pressed the switch.

Following the fingertip Nguyen pointed to, the incandescent bulb hanging from the rafter lit up. The dark room brightened. Fire starters, a poker, the charcoal embers left in the stove, and a sack were visible. It was a kitchen and living room combined.

“Where do you charge the battery?”

She guided us to the back of the house. There was a solar power generator. Eight solar panels were supported by four retaining walls. The charger was placed in a metal battery box below. Half of the panels were destroyed. The wires connected to the modules were tangled.

Some solar panels at a solar power plant in Ban Lao Kon Village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam, have fallen off. It was said that residents living far away took them. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Ban Rao Con village, located in Dong Hoi in the north-central region of Vietnam, is reached after a 1 hour and 30 minute drive on an unpaved road. On the 10th, the press visited this place.

We parked next to a sign that read ‘Let’s prohibit child marriage and incest’. Looking around, several stilt houses were visible. This is a village inhabited by the Vietnamese ethnic minority ‘Van Kieu’. The mobile phone displayed a message saying ‘No signal area’.

During the rainy season, even at 2 p.m., the sun is hidden behind rain clouds, making it gloomy. Every step sank into muddy water. The one-room wooden houses were pitch dark like darkrooms.

We first met Nguyen, who serves as the women’s association leader in this village. She answered the reporters’ questions in front of a fence and then gestured to invite us into her home.

Met Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh, the village women's association president, next to the solar power generator in Ban Laokon village. When asked about the electricity situation, she invited me to come to her home and take a look. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Originally, the solar power generator should have worked so that the car battery Nguyen used was unnecessary. However, the cable from the solar panel was plugged into the battery ‘Dongnai’. It was to charge electricity for use in the evening.

12 volts, 25 amperes. 680,000 dong (about 37,000 KRW). Nguyen’s monthly income from peeling tree bark is at most 2 million dong (about 110,000 KRW), so it is an expensive item. Charging this battery with solar power for half a day can light a bulb for 2 hours. Nguyen invested a large sum to purchase this equipment for her children’s studies.

We asked when and who installed the solar power system.

“The government.”

Nguyen said several people came six years ago to install the solar power system and left. Along with the solar panels, they received electronic devices such as a television and a fan for free at that time.

“It didn’t last a year. A typhoon came and blew everything away, and since then, no one has come to repair it.”

The president of the women's association in Ban Lao Kon village, Nguyen Thi Anh, is showing a notebook with drawings, saying her daughter Ho Thi Nhung's younger sibling likes drawing. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Nguyen has three daughters. The eldest daughter, Ho Thi Nhung (19 years old), enjoys drawing. She brought a notebook to show us.

“What is this?”

“Naruto.”

“Did you watch TV?”

“I used to.”

Nhung’s favorite character in the animation Naruto was Hinata. “When the solar power generator was working, we had a TV, so the children watched it often. We also sang karaoke songs when guests came using the karaoke speaker,” Nguyen added. Nhung’s drawings stopped six years ago.

“I don’t draw anymore. I want to become a clothes maker. I will work quickly and send money home.”

A solar power plant in Ban Lao Kon Village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. The battery box is empty, and small batteries personally purchased and installed by residents are connected. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

There are 10 solar power generators in the village. All are broken. Pine needles, bark, and yellow leaves were stuck on the panels. The metal box should contain a battery that converts sunlight received by the panel into electricity, but it was empty. The space was filled with weeds growing up to knee height. Near the 10 solar panels, car batteries were connected with cables. This battery power can only light bulbs.

‘Dongnai’ is a supplementary battery that villagers bought with all their savings. After visiting 64 households in the village, there was not a single house using electronic devices such as fans or refrigerators.

Residents used the wide solar panels as roofs to hang laundry. They tied strings between the supports. After washing clothes in the stream, they hung blankets, towels, T-shirts, and pants.

Solar power plant panels installed in Ban Lao Kon village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. The originally installed large-capacity batteries have been removed, and small batteries purchased by the residents are connected. The yellow wires connect to nearby houses, lighting up lamps for a short time in the evening. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

“Looks completely broken.”

We inspected the generator. Opening the rusty metal battery box door, the inside was empty. A lizard carcass about the size of a thumb was stuck inside. Outside, the words CONNECTION BOX were written. Scraping moss with a fingernail revealed familiar letters.

Manufacture date: June 29, 2016.

made in BUSAN, Korea

A box attached to a solar power plant in Ban Lao Kon Village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam. The product specifications are presented. Photo by Chae-eun Koo faktum@

■Infographic Page■

Solar Power and Firewood - Vietnam Ban Rao Con Report

(story.asiae.co.kr/vietnam)

What problems arise from splitting official development assistance budgets?

(story.asiae.co.kr/ODA)

This project was supported by the Press Promotion Fund funded by government advertising fees.

[Solar Power and Firewood] continues in Han Quoc