Site clearance deadline set for $2 bln northern Vietnam LNG power plant

Investors and Thai Binh authorities have been urged to complete site clearance for the $2 billion,1.5 GW LNG-to-power plant in the northern province by January 2025.

Ngo Dong Hai, chief of the Thai Binh Party Committee, set the deadline at a meeting last week with Japan’s Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. and Vietnam’s Truong Thanh Vietnam Group, two of three partners of a joint venture named Thai Binh LNG Power JSC - the investor.

Noting that the Thai Binh LNG power plant was the biggest foreign-invested project ever in the province, Hai said investors should keep updating provincial authorities on its progress. They should aim at completing administrative procedures by the second quarter of 2025 for further development, he added.

The investors should make long-term plans for ensuring gas supply and expanding the plant’s capacity if possible, Hai said, adding that they should consider PV Gas’s proposal for supplying LNG for the project. Another material source for the project is gas from the Ky Lan gasfield off Thai Binh province, set for exploitation in the future.

Hai said Thai Binh will support Tokyo Gas in researching and developing offshore wind power projects, in line with the province’s target of developing into a zero-carbon green energy hub.

A Tokyo Gas representative said they were conducting feasibility studies and calculating site clearance compensation. He called for provincial authorities’ support for the task.

The Thai Binh Party Committee gave an in-principle nod to the $2 billion LNG Thai Binh thermal power plant in Thai Thuy district in December 2023, tasking the provincial People’s Committee with completing legal procedures for the project.

The same month, the joint-venture was handed an investment license for the project at the Vietnam-Japan Economic Forum held in Tokyo during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's December 15-18 visit to Japan.

In January 2024, Japan’s Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. announced the formal establishment of a joint venture to build the LNG-to-power plant. It said that Thai Binh LNG Power JSC will have Tokyo Gas, Japan’s Kyuden International Corporation and Vietnam’s Truong Thanh Vietnam Group as partners.

The joint venture has said it plans to start work on the project in the third quarter of 2025. The power plant is designed to provide 10 billion kWh to the national grid and make estimated annual tax payments of VND4 trillion ($162.57 million).