Envision to Supply Turbines for ASEAN’s Largest Wind Farm

China based Envision Group has signed a ‘Letter of Intent’ with Impact Energy Asia Development Limited (IEAD) for the supply of wind turbines to the 600MW Monsoon Wind Project in Lao(s) PDR. The construction of the wind farm will start this year and is expected to be commercially operationalized in 2025.

Envision plans to supply 133 units of EN-171 wind turbines with a power rating of 4.51 MW.

Once completed, the Monsoon Wind Project will be the largest wind farm in ASEAN as well as the region’s first cross-border wind energy project. The wind farm will be located in the Sekong and Attapeu provinces in Southern Lao PDR. The farm will generate more than 1,700 GWh of green energy each year and will be delivered from Lao PDR to Central Vietnam through a dedicated 500 kV transmission line.

Nat Hutanuwatr, Managing Director of IEAD, said on the development, “As we are making excellent progress in developing the first and largest cross-border wind farm in South East Asia with a very competitive tariff, we are delighted to welcome Envision to join our exciting journey to deliver zero carbon electricity.”

Hutanuwatr added, “Envision’s state-of-the-art technology for the proposed wind turbine solution and its successful execution track record will be key enablers for the project to achieve its objectives reliably and economically.”

The development of Monsoon Project began in 2011 by Impact Electrons Siam Company Limited (IES) which is an affiliate of IEAD. In July 2021, IEAD had signed a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Vietnam Electricity (EVN).

As per the statement of Envision, the Chinese turbine maker is also collaborating with IES on IES’ development of the Xekong Wind Project, a further 1,000 MW wind farm on a site adjacent to the Monsoon Project. IES recently announced that it had obtained exclusive rights from the Government of Lao PDR to conduct a feasibility study and preliminary Environment Impact Assessment for the Xekong Wind Project.

Recently, Envision had also secured orders of 1.9 GW capacity from India which is the largest single order that the company has received from a foreign country until now. It will be supplying 596 turbines to India and most of the deliveries will be made in the first half of 2023.

2022-23 is being seen as the year for the emergence of Chinese wind manufacturing firms on a large scale in global markets, after steady progress in the past 5 years. Many industry watchers have expressed apprehensions that the Chinese dominance in wind could replicate the solar story, where China controls the supply chain and manufacturers 70% of global equipment.