Vietnam's Dak Lak Approves 452-MW Floating Solar Plant on Reservoir

• Dak Lak province approved the investment policy for a 452-MW floating solar plant on the Ea Sup Thuong reservoir and named four investors.
• The VND 9.149 trillion ($357 million) first phase covers 524 ha of water and includes battery storage and a 220-kV line.
• Operation is due no later than the fourth quarter of 2028, 18 months after the land lease decision.

Vietnam's Dak Lak province has approved the investment policy for a 452-MW floating solar plant on the Ea Sup Thuong reservoir and named four domestic companies as investors, a provincial decision shows.

The decision, signed by Dao My, vice chairman of the Dak Lak Provincial People's Committee, covers the plant's first phase. It puts the investment at about VND 9.149 trillion ($357 million). Panels and inverters will sit on floats across about 524 ha of the reservoir, with roughly 3 ha of land for onshore works. The plan also lists a battery storage system of unstated size, a 35/220-kV substation rated at 2x250 MVA and a 6-km double-circuit 220-kV line to the Krong Buk 500-kV substation.

IPC Construction Works JSC holds the largest equity share. Its partners are Tay Nguyen Infrastructure Construction and Development JSC, SD Vietnam Construction Investment JSC and Ea Sup Investment JSC. They will put up 20% of the cost as equity and raise the rest.

Vietnam's revised Power Development Plan VIII, approved in April 2025, targets 46,459 MW to 73,416 MW of solar by 2030. It gives priority to solar on water surfaces, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

The project in numbers

• 452 MW of design capacity on about 527 ha, of which 523.9 ha is reservoir surface.
• VND 9.149 trillion ($357 million) of total investment, with 20% equity and 80% borrowed or otherwise raised.
• VND 20.2 billion ($790,000) per MW, battery, substation and grid line included (list.solar calculation).
• 0.86 MW per hectare of water surface (list.solar calculation).
• 46.5% of the equity comes from IPC, 21.9% from Ea Sup Investment, 16.6% from SD Vietnam and 15% from Tay Nguyen.
• About 1% of the 46,459-MW low end of Vietnam's 2030 solar target (list.solar calculation).

The investors must not disturb the reservoir's water regulation, especially near the intake and spillway. Before operating, they must settle rights over part of the water surface that overlaps an existing permit. If surveys find natural forest on the site, that area must be removed from the project, Bao Dak Lak, the provincial newspaper, reported.

Next, the investors must post a deposit or bank guarantee, or lose the project. They also need land and water-surface leases and an approved environmental impact assessment. Construction is set at 18 months from the lease decision, with operation no later than the fourth quarter of 2028.