US firm Black & Veatch to study carbon capture feasibility at Vietnam coal-fired power plants

Black & Veatch, an engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company in the United States, will study carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology deployment at coal-fired power plants in Vietnam.

In a Monday statement, Black & Veatch said carbon-cutting technologies can further reduce emissions at three thermal power factories owned by state-owned Petrovietnam.

The study has been commissioned by the Vietnam Petroleum Institute (VPI), a scientific and technological research center under Petrovietnam.

The three plants are Vung Ang 1 in the central province of Ha Tinh, Song Hau 1 in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang, and Thai Binh 2 in the northern province of Thai Binh. Each plant has a capacity of 1,200 MW.

“This is the first carbon capture study to be conducted on coal-fired power plants in Vietnam,” a Vietnam Petroleum Institute statement said, adding that the findings can help define development of Vietnam’s national CCUS roadmap and legal framework.

Vietnam’s national power development plan VIII (PDP VIII) encourages the adoption of CCUS solutions at industrial production facilities and power plants to achieve a capture capacity of about one million metric tons per year by 2040 and three to six million metric tons annually by 2050.

Six coal-fired power plants included in the PDP VIII are expected to produce 6,125 MW of the total of 30,127 MW produced by all coal-fired power plants in Vietnam by 2030.

In keeping with Vietnam’s sustainable development growth target, all coal-fired power plants are set to use biomass and ammonia as fuel from 2050. PDP VIII has already discontinued dozens of coal-fired power projects with a combined capacity of 13,220 MW.

Vietnam is set to surpass Taiwan to become the fifth-biggest coal importer in the world, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its July 2024 edition of the Coal Mid-Year Update report.