[Solar Power and Firewood] Four Batteries

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

[Summary of previous episodes] The reporters visited Ban Rao Con village in Quang Binh Province, Dong Hoi, in north-central Vietnam from October 7 to 14. The Korean government spent 18.5 billion KRW under the name of overseas aid to install 10 solar power devices starting in 2015 and completed maintenance in 2019, but all of them were broken. Villagers said all equipment became unusable within a year of installation in 2015. After meeting with local subcontractors, the reporters began tracking down those responsible. They also heard from KT and the Export-Import Bank involved in the project and included their rebuttals. Now, they organize the unfinished records of the investigation. This is the story of Ho Thi Von and Ho Thi Dam.

Resident Ho Thi Von of Ban Lao Kon is showing how she tears a box to use it as a fan. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Ho Thi Von (64) tore a cardboard box. It was a corner of a toolbox under the bed. She fanned herself with it, creating a breeze. The reporters and Ho Thi Rang (30), who had come to visit Ho Thi Von’s house, all laughed out loud. When asked, “How do you cope in summer without a fan?” she didn’t answer but made a breeze on the spot.

She said the heatwave was the most uncomfortable. The highest temperature in Ban Rao Con village in July and August approaches 40℃. The fan is unusable. Even if the broken solar panels are charged with a car battery, they cannot generate enough energy to run a fan. Residents sleep with all the doors of their stilt houses wide open during tropical nights. Dengue fever spreads like a trend. During the conversation, Ho Thi Von’s daughter put an ice pack into a cooler box. She had brought it on a motorcycle from Dong Hoi city, 1 hour and 30 minutes away.

Ho Thi Von picked up the box and added one more thing. “We also catch mosquitoes with this.”

There were many children in Ho Thi Von’s house. They played tag and joked while lying in hammocks hung between the pillars of the stilt house.

Grandchildren at the home of Ho Thi Von, a resident of Ban Lao Kon. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

[Solar Power and Firewood] The same question was asked to Ho Thi Dam, the protagonist of Hankwok Convenience Store.

“Grandmother, what do you do when it’s too hot?”

“I weave leaves to use as a fan.”

“Where is your fan now?”

“I make it and use it during the season, then throw it away. When summer comes, I make it again. So I don’t have one now. Ha ha ha.”

“If electricity came, what would you want to do most?”

“I can’t imagine it. I just want light, light. That’s enough.”

Ho Thi Dam from Ban Lao Kon village, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam, is speaking in front of the solar power generator installed in her backyard. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Ho Thi Dam sat on the village bench and talked to the interpreter about various things. “I don’t have money to buy a car battery. I use a headlamp.” “I built this house by borrowing land from the village chief.” “If you don’t study on time, your life will darken and never brighten again. I can’t read, so when I go to the city, I have to ask everything.” “That’s why I teach my children that they must study.”

While chatting, he grabbed the reporters’ hands and said he had something to show.

He led them to a solar power generator with two rectangular solar panels attached inside the yard. Withered banana leaves had fallen on the panels. Dust was piled up between the modules.

The ground and surroundings where the retaining wall was built were free of weeds. Firewood was neatly arranged in a corner. It was obvious that the floor around the panels had been swept and cleaned.

“This is probably the most intact generator in this village.”

Ho Thi Dam opened the metal box under the solar panel. Four batteries for the solar panel were stored inside. They were twice as large as car batteries.

When the solar power generator built by Korea in 2017 stopped working, the broken batteries disappeared. Outsiders sold them or subcontractors took them away. Ho Thi Dam is the only one in Ban Rao Con village who still keeps the batteries.

Ho Thi Dam from Ban Lao Kon village, Quang Binh province, Vietnam, is showing the solar power generator battery box installed in her backyard, saying that all the equipment remains intact. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

“Why didn’t you sell them?”

“Because they’re not mine. They were given by Hankwok.”

Ho Thi Dam continued.

“What if people come later and ask where the batteries are? I promised my children never to sell them and I don’t touch them either.”

He carefully closed the metal door of the battery box again. He checked twice to make sure it was properly closed.

■Infographic Page■

Solar Power and Firewood - Report from Ban Rao Con, Vietnam

(story.asiae.co.kr/vietnam)

What problems does splitting aid budgets cause?

(story.asiae.co.kr/ODA)

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