Belgium Rent-A-Port Green Energy and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development sign an MoU to develop wind and solar driven micro desalination. (Photo: isgmard.org.vn) The agreementwas signed with officials from Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (MARD) on April 8.
Rent-A-Port GreenEnergy is 100 percent owned by Rent-A-Port NV, a Belgium engineering andinvestmentcompany, specialising in the development of marine infrastructuresand industrial zones. Through its shareholders, Rent-A-Port can fall back on awealth of in-house experience in the analysis, design, construction,development and management of port, logistics and marine infrastructures, greenenergy as well as industrial zones worldwide.
Under the agreement,the Belgian firm and MARD will set up five demonstration wind-powered waterdesalination plants, with a total investment of 15 million USD, which arecapable of providing fresh water for at least 200 hectares of rice fields infive locations across the Mekong Delta region.
Each plant consists oftwo water production units, with a combined peak capacity of 400 cu.m per day.The amount of salt found in the fresh water from the plants would be below 0.1percent, making it suitable for irrigation and even drinkable for local people.
“We are expectingaround 250 such plants to be built in the region, as a part of supporting Vietnamin improving rice production and the livelihoods of the region’s farmers. Weare also willing to help Vietnam identify and seek the most suitable financingsource for the development of such plants in the Mekong Delta,” Marc Stordiau,managing director of Rent-A-Port, said at the MoU signing ceremony.
He added that theproject was not looking for profits, but will work to help farmers overcomedifficulties in growing crops.
The project will onlyuse green energies, thus reducing the system’s costs, he said.
Tran Kim Long, General Director of MARD’sInternational Co-operation Department, said the project would support two of Vietnam’simportant programmes for building new rural models and restructuring.
“Thepublic-private-partnership in the agricultural sector is expected to takeadvantage of models and partners who have had success in green growth in othercountries,” Long added.
Since 2008,Rent-A-Port NV, a subsidiary of CFE, part of the large French Concession GroupVINCI and the industrial group Ackermans and Van Haaren, have taken over allshares of AIG, to become the major shareholder of the Dinh Vu Industrial Zonein northern Hai Phong port city.
Rent-A-Port continuesto expand it industrial zones, not only in Hai Phong city, but also in QuangNinh province, creating the Deep C industrial cluster, which is built over a3,000 ha. area.
Rent-A-Port GreenEnergy’s management was the driving force behind the pioneering “far shore”wind C power farm. This was the first time that wind turbines were built so faroffshore (30 kilometres). The total farm capacity was approximately 360 MW.
Rent-A-Port GreenEnergy has also participated in several green power projects in Oman andBelgium.
The group has beguninvesting in green energy for the sustainable development of Vietnam. Theseinclude projects in wind-powered water desalination in the Mekong River Deltaand Hai Phong, pioneering in solar energy in north Vietnam, as well aswaste-to-energy modules in Dinh Vu and Uong Bi city. Rent-A-Port is alsolooking at developing inland waterway ports that divert traffic from roads to asafer and more ecological route by sea.
In November 2016,Rent-A-Port Green Energy and Rent-A-Port Utilities signed a MoU with the MARDon co-operation in wind-driven desalination for agricultural production in theMekong Delta region.-VNA
VNA
