Power Generation Joint Stock Corporation 3 (EVNGENCO3) today signed a long-term master training agreement with Perth-based Australian School of Economics (ASE).
The signing ceremony between Mr Cao, Chairman of ASE, and Mr Le Van Danh, President & CEO of EVNGENCO3, occurred with the presence of the Premier of Western Australia (WA), the Honourable Roger Cook MLA.
Premier Cook is leading a Trade Mission to Vietnam, visiting Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi this week. He is accompanied by Hon Jackie Jarvis MLA, Minister for Agriculture and Food, and Hon Samantha Rowe MLC, Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier.
ASE is a provider of professional and industry training for industrial project development and management. The school focuses on applied economics to real life projects.
Founding Chairman Ky Cao has longstanding experience in financial markets, economic consulting, energy company start-up, energy market reform, professional education, and project development and establishment in Australia and Vietnam.
In 2017, his company Finance International partnered with a local group to install the first small scale solar power system on a commercial building in Hanoi. In 2018, the partners applied for the development of a 49.5 MW solar farm in Quang Tri province (LIG Solar). The project was commissioned successfully and delivered to the national grid in June 2019.
Dejure Enterprises, another company of Mr Cao, ran courses for Energy Transition in parallel to FI work. Topics included the liquefied natural gas supply industry, high efficiency gas fired power generation, offshore wind farm development, and prospects for hydrogen in power supply.
In November 2022, Premier Roger Cook attended a MOU signing ceremony in Perth between Mr Cao and Mr Danh, regarding renewable energy development in Vietnam.
Premier Cook is WA Minister for Trade and Investment, Tourism and Defence Industries. He has been at the forefront of the economic relationship between Australia and Asia, with WA making up 60% of total Australian exports.
His Department of Energy and Economic Diversification (DEED) has led major programs with the federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in supporting Australian industry and business engagement in the Indo-Pacific region. Both have encouraged the pursuit of Energy Transition in Vietnam, which holds a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Australia.
ASE and EVNGENCO3 have discussed the need for battery energy storage systems (BESS) to provide firming capacity on the grid. This regards the need for back-up generation to keep the grid stable and ensure anytime power supply with more entry of intermittent generators like solar and wind.
Firming capacity is part of the reason for Perth Energy, a company co-founded by Mr Cao in 2000, building a super-fast-response dual-fuel (gas-diesel) 120 MW power station in Kwinana in 2010 and a 82 MW diesel power station in Merredin in 2012.
Kwinana is Perth’s major port and industrial zone, and Merredin is a small township located in the middle of a 600-km long transmission line linking Perth to the gold mining town of Kalgoorlie. These stations are being used
to energy-balance and support new renewable plant on Perth’s main grid, the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS).
Firming capacity is emerging as a critical element of Energy Transition in Vietnam. After the initial wave of solar and wind projects in 2019, the Vietnam grid needs fast-response plant and battery stations.
Gas and diesel plant provide rapid response and longer duration back-up while BESS provide instantaneous response and short duration back-up. One is accretive energy supply and the other is energy storage and discharge, the two offering complementary services.
EVNGENCO3 is one of the largest power generation corporations in Vietnam, managing and operating 6,560 MW across diverse power generation technologies. As of late 2025, the company accounts for 8% of the nation's total installed capacity and generates an average of 30 billion kWh annually, representing 9% of Vietnam's national electricity output.
Beyond asset management and technical operation, EVNGENCO3 serves as a project developer, advancing nearly 2.6 GW of new power projects towards 2030 in alignment with PDP8 revised. Through digital transformation, modern O&M practices, and flexible energy integration, EVNGENCO3 remains committed to grid stability, Energy Transition, and sustainable socio-economic development.
Mr Cao's contribution to Vietnam’s energy industry was recognised in 2019, when he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the Vietnam Consulate in Perth, and in 2025, when he received a Certificate of Merit from the National Central Committee at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. He is a member of the overseas Vietnamese expert consultative group.
Mr Cao is also a non-executive director of AVESS Energy, a proudly Australian-owned vanadium flow battery (VFB) OEM, which develops and manufactures long-duration, safe and sustainable VFBs. The company is represented on the Trade Mission to Vietnam by AVESS Chair, Mr Dean Nalder, alongside Premier Cook, ASE and other prominent Western Australian organisations.
In 2001-05, Mr Cao established and chaired the Independent Power Advisory Group (IPAG), which worked closely with the WA Government to introduce major reform to the state’s electricity supply industry.
In 2011, Mr Cao was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Western Region Services. In 2016, his alma matter, the University of Western Australia, established the annual Ky Cao Prize for the Business School’s Economic Policy unit.
ASE is an outgrowth of Mr Cao’s previous work at Perth Energy, FI and Dejure. ASE’s institutional knowledge is held through Mr Cao, who uses a bespoke approach to projects.
Instead of relying on a large corporate to initiate and carry out the projects, he consults with Government and proposes policy frameworks. He then undertakes a real project that forms part of the solution framework.
This way, ASE has access to a wide range of expertise at any time in any field, retaining flexibility of supplier selection and minimising fixed costs.