Northern Vietnam province okays $2-bln LNG power project

The Party Committee of Thai Binh province has given an in-principle nod to the $2 billion LNG Thai Binh thermal power plant in Thai Thuy district.

The Party Committee of Thai Binh province has given an in-principle nod to the $2 billion LNG Thai Binh thermal power plant in Thai Thuy district.

The committee gave the green light at a Wednesday meeting, tasking the provincial People’s Committee with completing legal procedures for the project.

Ngo Dong Hai, Secretary of the Thai Binh Party Committee, asked relevant authorities to help investors and speed up site clearance progress, aiming to kick off the project close to the provincial Party Committee’s 21st Congress scheduled for 2025. 

The plant will cover 269.4 hectares and have two turbines with a combined capacity of 1,500 MW. The first turbine is scheduled to enter commercial operation in the last quarter of 2028 and the second one in the fourth quarter of 2029.

Ngo Dong Hai, chief of the Thai Binh Party Committee, chairs a meeting in the northern province, December 13, 2023. Photo courtesy of Thai Binh Television.

In November 2022, Japan's Tokyo Gas and Kyuden Group had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Truong Thanh Vietnam JSC on jointly developing this project. The MoU was signed at the Asia Green Growth Partnership Ministerial Meeting (AGGPM) in Japan.

Vietnam currently has no operational LNG power plants.

PV Power’s Nhon Trach 3 and 4 power plants with a combined capacity of 1.6 GW, currently under construction in the southern province of Dong Nai, will be the country’s first LNG-to-power projects.

The Thai Binh LNG-to-power project is featured in a list of priority LNG projects for development by 2035 in the newly-approved power development plan VIII (PDP VIII).

The other projects are: Quang Ninh (1,500 MW); Nghi Son (1,500 MW); Quang Trach II (1,500 MW); Quynh Lap/Nghi Son (1,500 MW); Hai Lang Phase 1 (1,500 MW); Ca Na (1,500 MW); Long Son (1,500 MW); Hiep Phuoc Phase 1 (1,200 MW); Long An I (1,500 MW); Long An II (1,500 MW); and Bac Lieu (3,200 MW).