Belgian tech solutions provider seeks hydrogen project partner in Vietnam

John Cockerill, a Belgium-based provider of large-scale tech solutions, has asked Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance to help find partners to build a hydrogen factory in Vietnam.

CEO Francois Michel made the request at a Monday meeting in Belgium with a Vietnamese Ministry of Finance delegation. He also asked for help in finding a suitable project location, such as one close to a deep-water seaport.

He said two Vietnamese firms have contacted the Belgian company to discuss cooperation possibilities and that the company hoped to complete the search for partners and investment procedures this year. The target is to put the project into operation in 2025, he added.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc welcomed the Beligian firm’s long-term investment interest in Vietnam’s renewable energy sector, especially in production of green hydrogen and biomass fuel. He also hailed potential cooperation in policy making, research and application of high technology, governance improvement, and human resource training.

The minister said Vietnam welcomed energy sector investors and was offering tax incentives for projects using advanced technologies, biotechnology, new energy, and renewable energy.

In this connection, he affirmed that Vietnam would implement the Global Minimum Tax (GMT) initiative from January 1, 2024.

The GMT which falls under OECD Pillar Two, has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime global tax reform that will apply to multinational companies with annual revenues of above EUR750 million. Many OECD countries are set to implement it at the start of next year.

Phoc said tax incentives were a key investment-attraction tool for Vietnam, but the country boasted several other advantages including political stability and an abundant workforce.

At a May meeting in Hanoi with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, John Cockerill CEO Michel had said the firm had already surveyed locations in Vietnam for investment in two projects in the Mekong Delta provinces of Ben Tre and Tra Vinh - an activated carbon factory from coconut byproducts in the former and a hydrogen plant in the latter.

PM Chinh had urged the Belgian firm to speed up its investments and support the country in improving its legal framework, research and application of high technology, and governance improvement. He also asked the company to promote human resource training in renewable energy.

At present, costs for green hydrogen remain high in comparison to fossil fuels or blue or grey hydrogen. “It is early days for hydrogen. But with the renewable resources available to Vietnam to produce green hydrogen, it is an opportunity for the country to make a mark on the world stage,” Tony Foster, managing partner of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's Vietnam offices, told The Investor last December.

Vietnam has already attracted some hydrogen projects. Clean energy company TGS began construction of Vietnam's first green hydrogen factory in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh in March this year at an estimated cost of VND8 trillion ($341 million).

South Korea’s SK Energy Co., Ltd. hopes to develop a hydrogen project in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, the company’s senior advisor Lee Dong Uk said a meeting with municipal authorities in October 2022.

Quang Tri is considering the establishment of a massive VND175.6 trillion ($7.46 billion) green hydrogen complex that will turn the central province into a renewable energy hub.