Tokyo Gas gets set to build second LNG power plant in Vietnam

Japan’s Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. has announced the formal establishment of a joint venture to build a 1.5 GW LNG-to-power plant in the northern province of Thai Binh.

It said in a Wednesday release that Thai Binh LNG Power JSC has been set up with Tokyo Gas, Japan’s Kyuden International Corporation and Vietnam’s Truong Thanh Vietnam Group as partners.

The new firm will conduct an economic and technical feasibility study for the project, which will feature an offshore terminal for receiving LNG and a power plant.

The project’s activities will include construction and operation of the power plant and the terminal; LNG procurement; selection of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors; and selling electricity to state utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN).

The firm aims to start commercial operation of the power plant in 2029, Tokyo Gas said.

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

Ngo Dong Hai, Secretary of Thai Binh's 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 same month, the joint venture was handed an investment license to build the project at the Vietnam-Japan Economic Forum held in Tokyo during Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's December 15-18 visit to Japan.

This is Tokyo Gas’s second LNG-to-power project in Vietnam, following one in the northern province of Quang Ninh, which also includes an onshore LNG terminal and a 1.5 GW power plant. This project is scheduled to start commercial operation in late 2027.