Central Vietnam thermal power project receives mammoth equipment import package

The first shipment of equipment for the Quang Trach 1 thermal power project, a 1,200-MW coal-fired plant, arrived at the central province of Quang Binh's oil-gas port on Monday.

The shipment included 2,300 tons of parts for a giant boiler. The $1.86 billion project was listed in the National Power Development Plan VII (PDP VII) and the newly-approved PDP VIII.

Construction began in December 2021, and the plant, with a designed output of 8.4 billion kWh a year, is expected to start operating its first and second turbines in June 2025 and December 2025, respectively.

State utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) is the investor in the project, providing 30% of the capital, while the rest will come from loans. In June 2021, EVN signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with a consortium of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Construction (Hyundai E&C), and Vietnam’s Construction Corporation No.1 (CC1).

According to the PDP VIII, six coal-fired power plants are under construction in Vietnam, namely Na Duong 1, An Khanh-Bac Giang, Vung Ang II, Quang Trach I, Van Phong I, and Long Phu I. Van Phong I is the largest with a capacity of 1,432 MW.

EVN said it will continue to reduce power supply in the northern region due to persistent hot weather and low water levels in hydropower reservoirs, but will try to minimize the impact on customers. In a report submitted to the government on Friday, EVN said it will still have to cut off electricity in the North until reservoirs are replenished. The power cuts are estimated at 2,000-2,500 megawatts, about 20-30% lower than the average cuts in the first days of June and half of the peak daily cut level of 5,000 MW.

To alleviate the problem, 24 coal-fired power plants in northern Vietnam pledged to optimize their resources and stabilize operations at a meeting with EVN on Monday. Electricity sales in the northern region increased by 5.72% to 7.29 billion kWh in May, according to EVN Northern Power Corporation.

EVN and its subsidiaries EVN Power Generation Corporation 1 (EVN Genco 1), EVN Genco 2, and EVN Genco 3 account for 38.4% of all the power generation capacity in Vietnam. The rest is generated by build-operate-transfer (BOT) investors, independent power producers, renewable energy power plants, and others.