AN GIANG — The Mekong Delta province of An Giang will offer preferential policies to investors in renewable energy plants as part of its strategy on sustainable development.

Investors whose projects are in production and trade, for instance, will be exempt from land lease fees for seven years and will receive other incentives, according to the province’s Department of Industry and Trade.

Investors will also be exempt from fees for infrastructure projects in industrial parks for 11 years, while loans equal to nearly 70 per cent of total investment capital will be offered.

Investors in economically difficult regions, such as districts Tri Tôn, Tịnh Biên and An Phú, will have a corporate tax rate of 10 per cent.

Nguyễn Minh Triết, deputy head of the department’s Energy Management Division, said at a conference on sustainable energy development held on Tuesday that four solar energy projects with 320 MWp capacity were being built in Tịnh Biên and Châu Thành districts.

Another five solar energy projects with capacity of 463 MWp in districts Tri Tôn and Tịnh Biên have been submitted for approval to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In March, a solar rooftop system with capacity of 3kWp will be installed at a facility of the industry and trade department, under an agreement between the province and Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state.

This system will be the first in the province and serve as a model for solar energy generation.

Đoàn Minh Triết, the department’s deputy director, said the energy sector would focus on renewable energy to meet the increasing demand for power and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Waste as energy source

The province also plans to use waste from agricultural production to generate energy under a biomass energy project awaiting approval from the Government.

Under the project, three plants will be built to generate energy from rice husks, with total capacity of 40 MW.

The plants will be built in areas where rice processing factories are located.  

If the project is approved, the department will ask the Government to provide preferential policies on land, corporate tax and import tax for procurement of fixed assets.

Many investors want to invest in rice husk energy plants, but are worried about the price offered by the Government. They said the prices should be equal to or higher than prices offered for solar energy, according to the Công Thương (Industry and Trade) newspaper.

The provincial People’s Committee has also approved an action programme with investment of VNĐ500 billion (US$21.5 million) on effective management and use of biomass for energy generation in the context of climate change for the 2018-30 period.

Under the programme, areas of collected straw will include at least 40 per cent of the total straw discharged from rice production.  Of these areas, 15 per cent will be used for energy production.

In addition, at least 50 per cent of the total rice husks discharged from rice production will be used for renewable energy plants.

An Giang Province has huge potential for biomass energy as it has an annual output of paddy of more than 4 million tonnes, ranking second in the Mekong Delta region.

It also has 8 million tonnes of straw and 800,000 tonnes of rice husks, and a large amount of other kinds of biomass such as corn husks, sugarcane dregs, and others.

The total amount of biomass in the province is 10 million tonnes, which could generate 17 million MWh a year. — VNS