Blue Circle has reached financial close on 40 MW Dam Nai win farm in Ninh Thuan, Vietnam

Blue Circle has reached financial close on 40 MW Dam Nai win farm in Ninh Thuan, Vietnam. The project has a 70:30 debt/equity ratio and a 17-year tenor on a non-recourse basis with the local lender. All equity was provided by Armstrong SEA Clean Energy Fund. The all-in interest rate on the loan is 6% for the first two years, stepping up to 14% for the duration.

Armstrong first invested into the project in February 2017 and since then has been its financial sponsor. Astris Finance acted as the sole financial adviser for the project and its sponsors. The wind farm was developed by The Blue Circle together with local partner TSV Investments.

The wind farm has a 20-year PPA with state-owned EVN at an offtake price of $0.78P/KwH.

The project was the first foreign-controlled wind farm project to be commissioned in Vietnam when the first 6MW phase went operational in November 2017. The $45 million financing for the project was signed in June (2018) and received its first disbursement on 3 July 2018. The cost of the first phase was rolled into the project financing of the overall wind farm.

The National Power Development Plan Vll that was amended in 2016 states that Vietnam’s generation capacity is currently at 45GW with hopes for it to grow to 130GW by 2030, with 26GW coming from non-hydro renewables.