Dong Nai to invest $94 mln in building waste-to-power plant

Dong Nai province, an industrial hub in southern Vietnam, has planned to invest VND2,286 billion ($94 million) in building a waste-to-power plant in public-private partnership (PPP) format next year.

Construction on the 12-hectare plant in Vinh Tan commune, Vinh Cuu district will take three years, to complete in 2026.

It will process 800 tons of waste daily with a power generation capacity of 20 megawatts in the first phase. The figures for the second phase are 1,200 tons and 30 MW, respectively.

According to the provincial Department of Planning and Investment, the facility can process 300,000 tons of domestic waste yearly, or half of the total in Dong Nai, and generate 160,000 MWh of electricity annually.

Dong Nai is also preparing to implement another waste-to-power plant project in Quang Trung commune, Thong Nhat district, worth $27-million.

In the first phase, the plant can handle 150 tons of waste daily and has a power generation capacity of 3.4 MW. The generated electricity is used for its furnace and a part is sold to the grid. The next two phases are dependent on the economic efficiency of the first phase.

Several waste-to-power plant projects are progressing in Vietnam. Earlier this month, the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam and the northern province of Quang Ninh initiated a project generating electricity from waste. The plant in Uong Bi town of Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO natural heritage site Ha Long Bay, will process domestic, industrial, and medical waste to produce energy.

In August, Harvest Waste B.V., a Dutch waste management company, received permission to carry out initial studies for a waste-to-energy project in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang. The southern province currently has only one operational solid waste treatment plant. This buries waste for a composting process that turns out compost.

Late last month, the capital of Hanoi put into operation a 75-MW waste-to-power plant. This is also the largest waste incineration plant in Vietnam with a capacity of handling 4,000 tons of dry waste a day, equivalent to nearly 5,500 tons of wet waste.