Marubeni and KEPCO a step closer to first-of-its-kind power plant in Vietnam
Marubeni and KEPCO a step closer to first-of-its-kind power plant in Vietnam
The consortium of Japanese company Marubeni Corporation and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) today signed the investment agreement for Nghi Son 2 thermal power plant in the central province of Thanh Hoa.
Nghi Son 2 is the first international tender for a large-scale coal-fired power plant in Vietnam. The project is going to be carried out under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) format.
The $2-billion plant will be located in the province’s Nghi Son Economic Zone. It will have a capacity of 1,200MW, produced by two units of 600 MW each.
At the moment, the consortium is awaiting the investment certificate and is arranging the finances for the project. Though the ground-breaking ceremony was held in September 2015, the project has yet to secure a range of agreements to complete the BOT contract package.
Most recently, in June, the consortium signed the land rental agreement with the management boards of Nghi Son Economic Zone and the Thanh Hoa Industrial Zones Management Authority.
According to Moroo Shino, general manager of the Overseas Power Project Department at Marubeni Corporation, the actual construction is expected to start next year and will be finished within four years.
“With the signing we are one step closer to implementing the project,” said Bong Sooha, executive vice president and chief global officer of KEPCO, in his speech at the ceremony.
“The MoIT hopes that the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Thanh Hoa People’s Committee will facilitate the licensing of the project,” said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa.
Addressing concerns about possible pollution, Marubeni’s Shino said that the plant is going to use supercritical technology which “is very advanced compared to the ones that are causing pollution in China and India.”
“The [supercritical] technology is very common. It is the same one we use in Japan where there are no environmental issues,” he said.
