Long Phu Power Centre

{{#Badges:CoalSwarm|Navbar-Vietnamcoal}}Long Phú Power Centre is a 4,320-megawatt (MW) coal power plant complex currently under development in Sóc Trăng province, Vietnam.

Location

The map below shows the location of the project, in Long Đức commune, Long Phú district, Sóc Trăng province. Satellite imagery from Planet from August 2018 to January 2019 shows construction clearly ongoing at the plant.

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Background

The overall purpose of the Long Phú Power Centre is to provide electricity to the southern part of Vietnam during the dry season, when hydropower production is low, and to reduce the need to distribute electricity from the northern part of the country to the south.

Long Phú-1

The first of the three power stations at the Long Phú Power Centre is Long Phú-1, a proposed "high efficiency" 1,200-MW coal-fired power station by Hanoi-based PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC), a subsidiary of energy provider PetroVietnam Group. The plant’s two units are planned to use supercritical boiler technology and scrubbers. Global engineering firm Black & Veatch won a contract to design and manage construction of the facility.

In Dec. 2013, after three years of delays, a consortium of three companies — Russia's Power Machines, Slovakia's BTG Holding, and Vietnam's PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (a subsidiary of PetroVietnam Group) — signed an engineering & construction agreement with PetroVietnam for the construction of Long Phú-1. At the time, the cost was projected to be $1.39 billion. The first unit was slated to be completed in December 2017, and the second in May 2018. In January 2015, PetroVietnam and the construction consortium signed another agreement, with completion now scheduled for 2019. Site preparation work began in June 2015.

As of June 2016, work was 24% complete. Construction was running behind schedule, and the completion date will potentially be pushed back even further.

In October 2017, construction continued to lag behind schedule, with Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Hoàng Quốc Vượng demanding that all parties make greater efforts to speed up progress without sacrificing quality. In particular, Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation should approve the full amount of the project's investment.

In June 2018 it was reported the plant had been hit with further delays after the January 2018 decision by the US Treasury to add Power Machine, a major contractor on the plant, to its list of embargoed Russian companies. As a result of the embargo, General Electric suspended its contract to supply turbines and generators for the plant and international banks have frozen US$780 million in loans. Faced with further delays to the project, the Vietnamese Government has directed PetroVietnam to develop a plan for the project and update the construction cost, which was estimated in 2013 at US$1.39 billion. Construction was 76.11% complete as of June 2018.

An analysis of projected greenhouse gas emissions from Long Phú-1 by a former director of the U.S. EPA's Air Enforcement Division found that a consulting firm for the project, Environmental Resources Management, had doctored the coal plant's greenhouse gas emissions estimates to make Long Phu-1 appear to be a more efficient "ultra-supercritical" plant, which would be allowed under ECA coal financing restrictions. A different analysis by Friends of the Earth found that the project's sponsors had also failed to analyze alternatives, identify cumulative and associated risks and impacts, evaluate labor and working conditions, prevent pollution, protect community health, provide safety and security, and ensure biodiversity conservation.

In June 2019 the completion date was delayed to 2023 in the Ministry Of Industry And Trade's report on the implementation of the revised seventh Power Development Plan (PDP7).

Long Phú-2

In November 2013, Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade approved a proposal by India's Tata Power, a subsidiary of the Tata Group, to build the second power station, the 1,320-MW Long Phú-2, at a cost of US$1.8 billion. The plant would be Tata's first outside of India.

According to Tata Power, Long Phu 2 would use coal imported from Indonesia or Australia which will be carried to Vietnam on large ships.

In October 2014, Tata agreed to construct the plant on an accelerated schedule, with completion now scheduled for 2019, rather than 2022 as previously planned.

As of April 2016, Tata said that it was still negotiating with the Ministry of Industry & Trade on investment and operating procedures. The company revised its completion date to the end of 2020.

In June 2019 the completion date for Unit 1 was delayed to 2029 and the completion date for Unit 2 was delayed to 2030 in the Ministry Of Industry And Trade's report on the implementation of the revised seventh Power Development Plan (PDP7).

Long Phú-3

As of September 2011, PetroVietnam was searching for investors for Long Phú-3. This final phase would have a capacity of 2,000 MW and would cost an estimated US$3 billion.

The government has negotiated with various companies about building the plant, including the idea that Tata also build this plant, as well as a proposed consortium of Daelim Industrial and Korea Electric Power Corporation.

In November 2016 it was reported the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN) had been in talks with foreign companies over a plan to import 15 million tons of coal a year to fuel three major thermal power stations, including Long Phu 1 (1,200MW) and Long Phu 3 (1,800MW).

In June 2018 the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade asked to transfer the investor of the Long Phu III plant from PetroVietnam to Chinese investor Southern Electric Grid Co., Ltd (CSG), which is also funding Vinh Tan power station-1 in Vietnam. CSG proposed to implement Long Phu III project in the form of a Build-Own-Transfer basis. A joint venture by China's Zhejiang International Energy Corporation and Hong Kong's China Power Investment Consultant is also reportedly interested in the plant, as an IPP project - which does not require a government guarantee like a BOT project does. According to the article, PetroVietnam is the investor of 4 coal power plants and 7 gas power plants, which is too much for the company.

In June 2019 the Ministry Of Industry And Trade's report on the implementation of the revised seventh Power Development Plan (PDP7) did not list a completion date for Long Phú-3 and noted that PVN had proposed that it be transferred to a new owner, effectively shelving the project until after 2030.

In September 2019 PetroVietnam withdrew from funding Long Phú-3 and the Chairman of the Long Phu People's Committee announced that it was in talks with the Banpu Group of Thailed to fund the plant instead.

Plant size modified

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

• Phase I - 2 x 600 MW - Construction - completed in 2019
• Phase II - 2 x 660 MW - "Planned with investor identified" (i.e. pre-permit development) - completed in 2021 and 2022
• Phase III - 3 x 600 MW - "Planned with investor identified" (i.e. pre-permit development) - completed in 2021 and 2022

Coal Port

In May 2015, construction began on a US$4 million port facility that will handle coal for the Long Phú coal plants.

Finance

• Long Phú-1: The sponsors will finance the project on a 70:30 debt to equity ratio – seeking US$1.4 billion in debt. Export Credit Agencies (ECAs) involved in the project are ESACE (Italy), Hermes (Germany), Egap (Czech Republic), and Exiar (Russia), while development banks are International Investment Bank and Vnesheconombank (Russia). HSBC, Cathay United Bank, JP MorganChase and Mitsubishi UFJ are the lead arrangers behind a planned US$650 million loan for the plant. K-Sure of Korea is providing insurance of US$122 million.
• Long Phú-2: The Song Da Corporation was originally chosen to be the main investor in the Long Phu 2 project. In August 2012, Song Da Corp. requested permission to withdraw from the Long Phu 2 project citing economic difficulties.
• Long Phú-3: Southern Electric Grid Co., Ltd (China)

Project Details

• Sponsor: PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (Long Phú-1); Tata Power (Long Phú-2); unknown (Long Phú-3)
• Parent company: PetroVietnam Group (Long Phú-1); Tata Group (Long Phú-2); unknown (Long Phú-3)
• Location: Long Đức commune, Long Phú district, Sóc Trăng province, Vietnam
• Coordinates: 9.70894, 106.08183 (exact)
• Status: Construction (Long Phú-1); Pre-permit development (Long Phú-2); Shelved (Long Phú-3)
• Gross Capacity: 4,320 MW (1,200 MW Long Phú-1; 1,320 MW Long Phú-2; 1,800 MW Long Phú-3)
• Type: Supercritical
• Start year:
  • Long Phú-1: 2023
  • Long Phú-2: Unit 1: 2029; Unit 2: 2030
  • Long Phú-3: after 2030
• Coal Type:
• Coal Source: see Finance section above

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Global use and production of coal
• International Information on Coal

External resources

• "Coal-Fired Plants Financed by International Public Investment Institutions Since 1994", Appendix to Foreclosing the Future: Coal, Climate and International Public Finance: Investment in coal-fired power plants hinders the fight against global warming, Environmental Defense, April 2009.