Long-delayed Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant to begin commercial operations this year

The long-delayed Thai Binh 2 thermal power plant in the eponymous province is on track to begin commercial operations on December 31.

General director Le Manh Hung of state-run Petrovietnam, the investor, confirmed the timeline during his field trip to the project site mid this week, citing the project was 97% complete.

He asked the contractors to focus on preparing input materials for the 41,799 billion ($1.68 billion) plant, including coal, heavy fuel oil (HFO) and reserve equipment for trial run of turbines.

The 1,200 MW Thai Binh 2, one of the largest coal-fired power projects in northern Vietnam, is a key part of the Thai Binh thermal power center in Thai Binh province.

Construction started in 2011, but faced continual suspensions and delays during 2018-2021, largely due to violations that have been brought to light.

Thanks to the government’s intervention, construction has resumed after being stalled since August 2018. Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh had made many working trips to the project site to boost its development.

PetroVietnam Construction JSC is the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor with a $1.2 billion contract.

Its turbine No.1 was connected to the national grid on May 13 this year. Once fully operational, the factory can generate over 7.2 billion kWh for the national grid every year.

The investment capital for the project was raised from VND31,500 billion ($1.27 billion) to $1.68 billion.