Ha Tinh Formosa Plastics Steel Complex power station

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Ha Tinh Formosa Plastics Steel Complex power station is a coal and gas plant under development as part of an integrated steel and seaport complex in Hà Tĩnh province, Vietnam.

Location

The map below shows what is apparently the construction site of the coal plant, on the site of the Ha Tinh Formosa Plastics Steel Complex, in Kỳ Phương commune, Kỳ Anh district, Hà Tĩnh province.

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Background

The $28.5 billion integrated steelwork being developed by Taiwan's Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company includes six blast furnaces, a 32-berth seaport, and a 2,150 MW coal-fired generating plant. The plant will be one of the world's five largest steel plants. Construction on the entire complex is expected to continue through 2020. Formosa Plastics Group owns 95 percent of the project, with China Steel owning the other 5 percent.

In June 2011, construction began on Phase 1 of the project, after three years waiting for site clearance. Phase 1 will include 650 MW of coal generating units, and will give the plant total capacity of 7.5 million tons of steel per year, costing $8.9 billion. Phase 1 of the complex is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015. The first batch of steel is scheduled to be produced at the plant in May 2015.

In the project's second phase, the company plans to expand the coal plant by another 1,500 MW, and expand the steel plant's capacity to 15 million tons.

Power Development Plan VII

According to the Revised Power Development Plan VII, the status of the project is as follows:

• Unit 1 - 150 MW - operating - 2015
• Units 2 and 5 - 2 x 150 MW - construction - target 2016 but completion not confirmed as of June 2017
• Units 6, 7, and 10 - 3 x 150 MW - "planned with investor identified" (i.e. pre-permit development) - 2020

According to the Revised Power Development Plan VII, Units 3, 4, 8, and 9 use natural gas as fuel rather than coal.

Incidents

During the dredging of the shipping channel for the facility's post, a hopper dredger was damaged when it hit a mine left over from the American War.

On May 14, 2014, a crowd of 1,000 Vietnamese workers gathered at the project site, protesting against China's deployment of the Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig in Vietnamese waters. The protest turned into an anti-Chinese riot, with protestors burning and damaging equipment on the Formosa Plastics project's site (even though the project is being built by a company from Taiwan, not China). Three Taiwanese workers were killed, 149 people (both Vietnamese and Taiwanese) were injured, and 11 were subsequently sentenced to between 18 and 33 months in prison for inciting the riot.

In July 2014, provincial authorities rejected Formosa Plastics' request to build a 18-square-meter shrine on the project's site for Taiwanese workers to pray at. The company began building the shrine anyway, however. The government (which places strong restrictions on religious practices) discovered that the temple was being built in October 2014, and ordered it destroyed.

On March 24, 2015, a 30-meter-high scaffolding section at the project site collapsed, killing 16 construction workers and injuring 27.

In June 2016, the complex was found to be discharging cyanide and other pollutants that killed fish along a 130-mile stretch of the Vietnamese coast, leading to protests. FPG admitted fault and agreed to pay the Vietnamese government US$500 to be used as compensation for people affected by the spill. In April 2018 it was reported that fish populations had not recovered in the area and that many fisherman had yet to receive compensation.

Project Details

• Sponsor: Hung Nghiep Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Limited Company
• Parent company: Formosa Plastics Group
• Location: Ha Tinh Formosa Plastics Steel Complex, Kỳ Phương commune, Kỳ Anh district, Hà Tĩnh province, Vietnam
• Coordinates: 18.02883, 106.44555 (exact)
• Status:
  • Unit 1 - 150 MW - operating - 2015
  • Unit 2 - 150 MW - operating - 2016
  • Unit 5 - 150 MW - operating - 2017
  • Units 6, 7, and 10 - 3 x 150 MW - "planned with investor identified" (i.e. pre-permit development) - 2020
  • Phase 2: Announced (gas plants)
• Gross Capacity: 2,150 MW (Phase 1: 650 MW; Phase 2: 1,500 MW); 900 MW coal-fired capacity and 400 MW gas-fired capacity, according to revised PDP VII
• Type:
• Projected in service:
• Coal Type:
• Coal Source:
• Source of financing:

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Vietnam and coal

External resources

• An Khánh Thermo-Power JSC website