During April 2022, Eric Arends was on a work visit to Vietnam and Indonesia. Eric is responsible for Pondera in Southeast Asia and after two and a half years of travel restrictions due to Covid, he was fortunately able to visit both countries again. The purpose of this visit was to physically meet up with the Dutch, Vietnamese and Indonesian colleagues again after a considerable period of time. Together they worked on Pondera’s strategy as a developer and consultant for wind and solar activities in these countries. Several formal meetings with governments and companies were also held in which Eric, as vice president of Pondera Group, played an important role.
The trip started in Vietnam, where Pondera has been active since 2017, and where Joost Starmans recently started working as a business developer. An important part of the work programme was the visit to the province of Thai Binh, where Pondera has already been involved for some time in the development of a near- and offshore wind farm totalling 700 MW. To take the development a step further, meetings were held over several days with the chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and various departments. Together with the project team, Eric also visited the local 120 metre meteorological mast. The mast was built under the supervision of Pondera and has been gathering valuable data on the local wind climate for almost a year. After the multiple-day visit to Thai Binh, Eric continued his trip to Hanoi and then Ho Chi Minh City to talk to various parties about the status of the Vietnamese sustainable energy market and to explore possible partnerships. We believe that Vietnam has great potential regarding the development of offshore wind energy, and as an experienced European party, we can make a difference.
After spending a week in Vietnam, Eric headed to another metropolis in Southeast Asia, Jakarta, where Pondera has been active with our Indonesian partners as a developer and consultant for on- and offshore wind and floating solar PV systems since 2016. Since 2020, Brent Elemans has been strengthening the team in Indonesia as a business developer. In addition to strategy, the work visit included meetings with the Dutch embassy’s economic team in Jakarta to discuss developments in the field of offshore solar and wind. Eric and the team also made a number of appointments with important contacts within the Indonesian government and companies, which will enable the expansion of Pondera’s wind energy operations in Indonesia in the near future.
