Hanoi firm plans bid for $141 mln waste-to-power plant in Dong Nai

The Amaccao Group, a Vietnamese multi-sector business, plans to submit a bid for building a VND3,500 billion ($140.7 million) waste-to-power plant in the southern industrial province of Dong Nai.

An executive of the Hanoi-based group informed provincial authorities about their decision in a meeting Thursday.

The waste-to-power plant in Vinh Tan commune, Vinh Cuu district will be able to handle 1,500 tons of waste a day.

Amaccao said it has experience in waste-to-power projects using German technology and already has the materials needed for building the plant.

The project is part of four proposals the group has suggested to Dong Nai province, the others involving social housing, renovation of stone mines and bidding for urban industrial projects.

Amaccao also proposed to develop another waste-to-power plant in Dinh Quan district.

Dong Nai Vice Chairman Vo Van Phi said the province would support Amaccao in its investments as they are what the province wants.

He said Dong Nai would open soon the bidding process for the waste-to-power project, which has been approved for implementation in the public-private partnership (PPP) format.

For the second waste-to-power project in Dinh Quan district, Phi said the group must fulfill procedures to seek permission for it to be added to the national plan.

Earlier, Dong Nai announced its plans to invest VND2,286 billion ($94 million) in building a waste-to-power plant in PPP format next year, without using the state budget. Construction on the 12-hectare plant in Vinh Tan commune, Vinh Cuu district will take three years, to complete in 2026.

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.

The waste-to-power project has been included in the valid national power development plan VII (PDP VII), said Truong Thi My Dung, director of the provincial Department of Industry and Trade. The province has proposed that five similar projects are also included in the draft PDP VIII.

Amaccao currently operates in four sectors: manufacturing, education-training, construction and real estate-environment & energy.

The firm is building two waste-to-power plants in Hanoi with investments of VND3,850 billion ($154.8 million) and VND2,800 billion, respectively; and one in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, also with an investment of VND2,800 billion.

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.