To Hoai Dan, general director of the company, told the Daily on Thursday that the fifth turbine is being installed on the sea, and all the ten turbines fore the first stage with a combined output of 16MW will have been completely installed by August 15.

Cong Ly will soon start second-phase development with 52 more turbines to raise the total output of the project to 99.2MW. The total investment for the project amounts to some VND5.2 trillion, or around US$255 million. Dan said the second phase is scheduled for completion and power generation will start next June.

Currently, the company is also accelerating the construction of auxiliary works such as a 110-kilovolt cable line stretching 18km and a 110kV transformer station to facilitate the power transmission.

The wind power towers and turbines, each weighing 210 tons with a height of 90 meters, have been erected by the U.S. firm General Electric (GE) with an output of 1.6 megawatts each.

This is the first wind power project to be implemented along the nation’s coastline. Thanks to the US$200-million loan funded by the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank), Cong Ly is deploying the project along a 62-kilometer stretch of the coastline of Bac Lieu Province.

Bac Lieu Province leaders said this wind-power plant is the first upscale project of its kind in the Mekong Delta, and its success will pave the way for the development of more wind-power projects in the locality.

The provincial government is seeking approval from central authorities to expand Bac Lieu Wind-Power Plant into the wind-power center of the whole Mekong Delta, according to the website www.chinhphu.vn.

If the approval is forthcoming, the investor will install some 300 more turbines along the coastline with an estimated investment of US$1 billion

In late March, Cong Ly Construction-Trading-Tourism Co. also asked for approval from the HCMC government to carry out a 200-megawatt wind power project in the city’s outlying coastal district of Can Gio with total investment capital of VND10 trillion. If the project gets the nod from the city government, Cong Ly will have 125 turbines installed along a 20-kilometer section on Can Thanh beach by GE within three to four years.