PM talks up Mekong Delta potential for gas-fired power plants

By Viet Phong   July 26, 2018 | 11:26 pm PT
There is great potential to develop gas-fired power projects in the Mekong Delta and a number of investors are seeking opportunities to do so, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a reception this week for investors seeking to set up a liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plant in the southern province of Bac Lieu.

The plant is expected to have a capacity of 3,200 MW, cost around $4 billion and sell its power at 7 US cents per kWh.

If advocated by the government, its 1,000 MW first phase is expected to go on stream by 2021.

The investors said the LNG-fueled project would produce less emission than a coal-fired thermal plant and no pollutants.

Leaders of Bac Lieu Province stated that the project was feasible due to the reasonable selling price of 7 cents, which is lower than that of coal-fired plants and solar and wind farms.

The PM instructed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate with Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the country’s monopoly distributor of power, and other stakeholders to consider adding the project to the country’s revised Power Development Plan VII.

Evoking the spirit of administrative reforms, Phuc asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Bac Lieu Province, and other ministries to help the investors complete investment procedures.

Since the project would be a large one, all processes must be carried out diligently and precisely, its environmental impact should be minimized, its power selling price must remain highly competitive and progress has to be monitored closely, he said.

In May Bac Lieu and U.S.-based Energy Capital Vietnam, LLC signed a memorandum of understanding for the project after the southern province flatly rejected a coal-fired power plant proposal.

Under the country’s revised Power Development Plan VII, Vietnam looks to increase its power capacity to some 129.5 GW by 2030, 19 GW of which will come from plants fired by gas, including LNG.

 
 
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