Vietnam PM Attends Start-up Ceremony of 600-MW Nghi Son 1 Power Plant

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the ground-breaking ceremony of the 600-MW Nghi Son 1 coal-fired power plant in the central province of Thanh Hoa on July 3.

 

When the plant becomes operational, it would help ensure safe power supply for northern central region and boost economic growth in the central provinces of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, particularly the Nghi Son economic zone, the Prime Minister was cited by the government website as saying July 3.

 

The investor, the state-run Electricity of Vietnam Group (EVN), plans to invest VND22.26 trillion (US$1.165 billion) in the underway plant, 85% of which will come from Japanese ODA via the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the rest from EVN’s reciprocal capital.

 

Marubeni Corp of Japan has signed an engineering procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth US$980 million with EVN for the project covering 350 ha in Nghi Son economic zone.

 

EVN plans to buy 1.6 million tons of coal per year produced from Hon Gai-Cam Pha mines in the northern coal hub province of Quang Ninh to feed the two-turbine plant that is designed to produce 3.6 billion kWh of electricity annually.

 

Turbine 1 of the plant is expected to start operation in the fourth quarter of 2013 and turbine 2 in the second quarter of 2014.

 

The plant is part of the 1,800-MW Nghi Son power center that comprises Nghi Son 1 and 1,200-MW Nghi Son 2 power plants. (www.chinhphu.vn)