The plant is a joint venture between Sharp Energy Solutions Corp., a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Vietnam’s T&T Group JSC and its affiliate Ninh Thuan Energy Industry JSC.

The new solar plant is expected to generate 76,373 MWh of electricity per year, enough to meet the average annual demand of 40,500 Vietnamese households. It can offset the equivalent of 25,458 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions a year, Sharp said in a recent statement.

Japanese news agency Kyodo News quoted a spokesman of the giant as saying that Sharp has been pushing its solar power business in Asia, having built plants in Thailand, Indonesia and Mongolia, on the back of expected growth in consumption of electricity.

Solar power currently accounts for 0.01 percent of Vietnam’s total power output, but the government plans to increase the ratio to 3.3 percent by 2030 and 20 percent by 2050.

Vietnam currently relies largely on hydropower and thermal power for its electricity needs, but its hydropower potential is almost fully exploited and oil and gas reserves are running low.

Under its energy development plan, Vietnam aims to have renewables, mainly solar and wind, account for 10.7 percent of total energy production by 2030.