Gia Lai Electricity (GEC), which owns five solar power plants with a total capacity of 260 MWp, saw its revenue surge 2.3 times year-on-year to VND514 billion ($22.15 million). Its profit for the period rose by 77.5 percent year-on-year to VND158 billion ($6.8 million).

All of GEC’s plants have exceeded production targets in the first half, and the company expects the trend to continue for the whole year.

Construction firm Ha Do Group, which owns a 48-MWp solar power plant in the central province of Binh Thuan, also saw its hydropower and solar power revenues almost doubling from last year to VND308 billion ($13.27 million).

Investment firm Bamboo Capital Group saw first revenues from its 40.6-MWp BCG-CME Long An 1 plant in the Mekong Delta province of Long An after launching it on June 23.

The group is now seeing revenues of about VND500 million ($21,500) a day from this plant. When the Long An 2 solar power plant in the same province starts operating by the end of this year, the revenue would go up to VND1.7 billion ($73,300) a day for annual revenues of VND450 billion ($19.4 million) and a profit margin of 13-14 percent.

Vietnam saw rapid construction of new renewable power plants in the first half of this year as investors sought to beat a June 30 deadline to enjoy price incentives of 9.35 U.S. cents per kWh feed-in tariff (FIT) for the next 20 years.

As many as 81 new solar and wind power plants began operations in the second quarter, adding nearly 4,500 MW to the national grid, equivalent to 10 percent of its capacity.

As of September last year, over 120 solar projects had been approved to be connected to the national grid, with a total capacity of 6,100 MW by 2020 and 7,200 MW by 2030, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Another 221 projects with registered capacity of over 13,000 MW are awaiting approval.

This means the total registered capacity of solar power projects in Vietnam could reach 26,000 MW, accounting for 60 percent of total capacity from all sources, exceeding the government’s initial target to have 850 MW by next year and 4,000 MW in 2025.