Sumitomo Corp. recently started construction on the Van Phong 1 coal-fired power project in Vietnam through its subsidiary Van Phong Power Co. Ltd.
The new supercritical coal-fired power plant will have a generation capacity of 1,320 megawatts (two 660-MW power generation units) in Vietnam’s Khanh Hoa Province. The project is a build-operate-transfer (BOT) power generation project that will sell electricity to Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam’s state-owned power company, over a period of 25 years. Total project costs are estimated at $2.64 billion, and the plant is scheduled to start commercial operation by the end of 2023.
Vietnam’s electric power demand has risen sharply in line with rapid economic growth and resolving the serious power shortages expected in future has become a pressing issue. Under its revised 2016 national power policy, the Vietnamese government is striving to meet power demand growing about 10% annually by stepping up its power generation capacity to 96,500 MW by 2025 and to 129,500 MW by 2030.
