SK E&S opens representative office in Vietnam

South Korea's renewable energy company SK E&S is speeding up the expansion of its global eco-friendly power generation business by opening a representative office in Vietnam.

The company on Friday held an opening ceremony for the office in Ho Chi Minh City. The branch supervises the operation and management of SK E&S' renewable energy facilities in the Southeast Asian nation as well as the promotion of new projects. 

Since 2020, the company has run a 131-megawatt solar power facility in the southern Vietnamese province of Ninh Thuan and operates in the western province of Tien Giang an offshore wind power plant completed in 2021 with a capacity of 50 MW and another with 100 MW finished this year.

With the opening of the Ho Chi Minh office, SK E&S will promote renewable energy ventures optimized for demand in Vietnam. Early this year, the company set up Solwind Energy JSC, a joint venture with the private Vietnamese renewable energy company Gia Lai Electricity, aka GEC, and runs a 7.4-MW roof-type solar power project in the southeastern city of Tay Ninh.

Another SK E&S project, a 756-MW onshore wind power plant near Vietnam's border with Laos, is under construction.

Through solar and wind power plants, SK E&S is also eyeing earning carbon credits equal to the volume of CO2 emissions reduced and supplying eco-friendly power to companies entering Vietnam to prepare for entry into the RE100 (100% renewable energy use) solutions market.

"Considered the best location for solar and wind power generation due to its abundant sunshine and even wind, Vietnam is our bridgehead for entering the Southeast Asian market," a company source said.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com