Ky Cao returns from Vietnam with energy

One of the state’s most experienced energy entrepreneurs, Ky Cao, has re-emerged looking for deals in the sector, although this time his focus is on exporting local expertise to Vietnam.

After decades navigating the tricky waters of Western Australian energy reform, Mr Cao has shifted his focus to opportunties in Vietnam where he has already completed one significant project.

Last week he signed a memorandum of understanding with one of Vietnam’s three state-owned generators to work on sustainable energy options for the developing nation.

A signing ceremony with Le Van Danh, president of Electricity Vietnam Power Generation Corporation 3, known as Genco3, was held late last week after he and several of his colleagues completed a short course on offshore wind farm development held at Curtin University’s city campus.

Mr Cao signed on behalf of Finance International, his long standing family company.

The move is by no means a first for Mr Cao, who was born in Vietnam and came to Australia with many other refugees in 1978.

He quit Perth Energy in 2016, almost 20 years after he founded it, and returned to Vietnam for the first time since coming to Australia, at the invitation of the country’s foreign affairs department.

As a result, he said he assisted Vietnam with its own reforms, using the significant experience of WA in energy market reform as well as strong frameworks for the development of renewable energy projects such as offshore, in part due to the maturity of the oil and gas industry here.

“We have spent 30 years doing it,” Mr Cao said of energy market reform.

“I said, ‘here is the rulebook, you don’t have reinvent the wheel’.

“And they took it and ran with it.”

Mr Cao said monopoly power utility Electricity Vietnam had subsequently split its operations into different component enterprises, with three generating subsidiaries that compete with each other.

The former Perth Energy boss has also become directly involved in enterprise in his former home, building a $70 million solar farm near Hue which he has subsequently sold out of.

Mr Cao said renewables were just part of the opportunities for WA as Vietnam looks to evolve its energy sector, aiming for both efficiency and sustainability.

He highlighted the recent focus on offshore windfarms because Australia was ahead of most jurisdictions in developing approvals processes and regulatory framework.