Coal to LNG shift proposed for $2.3 bln central Vietnam power plant

The central province of Quang Tri has suggested the termination of the 1,320-MW Quang Tri I coal-fired power plant project and a fuel shift to LNG.

Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Le Duc Tien made the proposal at a national meeting late October on completing a deployment scheme for the national power development plan VIII (PDP VIII).

Quang Tri authorities also sought permission to increase the capacity of the Quang Tri I plant from 1,320 MW to 1,500 MW after it shifts to using LNG as fuel. They also requested that the investment format be changed from build-operate-transfer (BOT) to independent power producer (IPP).

EGATi, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, was approved as investor of the Quang Tri I power plant in August 2013. The 1,320-MW plant, located in the province’s Southeast Economic Zone, was designed to run with two 660-MW turbines. Construction of the project began in November 2019, but little progress has been made since.

In October 2022, Thailand's Ministry of Energy confirmed that EGATi would abandon the project, partly due to difficulties in capital arrangement and the two governments' commitments to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

In April 2023, Quang Tri province informed EGATi of the proposal to terminate the $2.3 billion project, subject to final procedures, such as confirmation of completed work, site clearance, approvals from Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade and government, and other aspects.

Besides the latest proposal, Quang Tri is speeding up progress of the Hai Lang invested by South Korea’s state-run Korea Gas Corp. (Kogas), a major gas company in Asia, Hanwha Energy, Korea Southern Power (Kospo) and Vietnam's T&T Group.

Quang Tri currently has 19 wind power, three solar power, and 10 hydropower projects connected to the national grid and under commercial operation with a total capacity of 1,090.7 MW. The province now has 22 projects under construction that are part of PDP VIII. It has targeted increasing the capacity of land-based wind power from 1,800 MW to 2,500 MW by 2030.