Norway - SN Power to act as a power pathfinder

Foreign acquisition of local hydropower assets is to be kicked-off by a Norwegian major firm.

Nguyen Thanh Tan, country representative of SN Power, last week told VIR that SN Power aimed at becoming an industrial investor in Vietnam within the next two years.

“As the power sector is being reformed and deregulated, SN Power plans to leverage on its success in the Philippines and other markets to play a similar pivotal role in Vietnam’s power market,” he said.

Besides targeting plants owned by state-run Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the Norwegian government-controlled renewable energy developer wants to acquire stakes in non-EVN power plants.

Tan refused to name any specific Vietnamese power plants currently on SN Power’s radar screen, but noted that EVN’s ongoing restructuring plans would offer potential opportunities for SN Power to purchase EVN plants.

“When an operational footprint in Vietnam is achieved, we are likely to ask for permission to build new hydropower projects here,” he said. Tan said that SN Power might cooperate with Vietnam-based financial institutions and foreign financial organisations like the World Bank’s financial arm IFC to secure financial packages to penetrate into the Vietnamese power market.

SN Power opened a representative office in Hanoi in April, 2010. “First phase activities will be to look at acquisition prospects whilst greenfield opportunities will be looked into once local presence has been secured,” the firm said on its website.

“Though Vietnam’s hydropower planning already includes several local projects, we are positive that we will find projects attractive to us, as Vietnam’s power market will develop substantially in the coming years,” he added.

Currently, SN Power is involved in hydropower generation in the Philippines, Nepal, India, Chile, Brazil, Sri Lanka and Peru.

Nguyen Thanh | vir.com.vn

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