Vietnam

Southern Power Corporation (EVN SPC) will install 5,500 solar water heaters in 21 provinces nationwide with VND1 million worth of support for each customer participating in its promotion program. Nguyen Van Hop, deputy general director of EVN SPC, said that the corporation installed around 1,400 heaters with the same support last year. Households, hospitals, kindergartens, schools, restaurants and hotels are all able to take advantage of the discount, he added. According to the company, there are currently in use over 2.5 million electrical water heaters with the power capacity of 2-5 kilowatts and consuming up to four billion kilowatts each year. With the advantage of the tropical climate, southern provinces can use solar energy almost all year round and thus, the use of solar water heaters can save a large amount of power and money. The firm calculated that a household of five members using a 200-liter solar water heater can save 150 kilowatts of power per month. EVN SPC on Monday signed cooperation agreements with manufacturers who will provide solar water heaters to the program. They are Gia Nam Co., Back Khoa Investment and Development of Solar Energy Corp., Phu Lac Khang Co., Son Ha International Corp., Tan A Dai Thanh Group and Toan My Energy Co