Thai Binh Power Center

{{#Badges:CoalSwarm|Navbar-Vietnamcoal}}Thái Bình Power Center is an 600-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power station in Thái Bình province, Vietnam. A 1,200 MW expansion is under construction, and a further 440 MW expansion has been proposed.

Location

The map below shows the project site in My Loc commune of Thái Bình province, with Thái Bình-1 to the south and Thái Bình-2 to the north. A 2011 contract said the power center is on 43 hectares of land, although a 2010 report states that the power center will occupy 250 hectares of land.

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Background

In May 2009, PetroVietnam and Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) began preparation work for the Thái Bình power center, an 1,800-MW coal-fired power plant in Thái Bình province. Electricity of Vietnam is building the two-unit, 600-MW Thái Bình-1, while PetroVietnam is building the two-unit, 1,200-MW Thái Bình-2.

In July 2013 — after protests by U.S. environmental groups including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Pacific Environment, and the Center for Biological Diversity — the U.S. stated that the U.S. Export-Import Bank would not be extending financing to the Thái Bình power center as previously planned.

Thái Bình-1

The Thai Binh 1 Thermal Power Plant is a proposed 600 megawatt coal-fired plant. In December 2013, Electricity of Vietnam and Japan's Marubeni Corporation signed a construction contract for Thái Bình-1. Construction broke ground in February 2014. The first unit is scheduled to go online in November 2017, and the second in May 2018. In July 2015, EVN applied for approval to build transmission lines for the plant.

In May 2017, EVN connected the two units of Thai Binh-1 to the national grid.

According to EVN, Thai Binh-1 Unit 1 went into commercial operation in Q4 of 2017 and Unit 2 will go into operation in Q2 of 2018.

Thái Bình-2

Thai Binh 2 Thermal Power Plant is a US$1.6 billion, 1,200 megawatt power station being developed by Vietnam's state oil and gas group Petrovietnam.

PetroVietnam began site clearing work for Thái Bình-2 in March 2011. In May 2012, PetroVietnam signed a contract with a consortium consisting of Japan's Sojitz Corporation and Korea's Daelim Group for the construction of Thái Bình-2.

The plant has been scheduled to be completed in 2015, but the project has had some significant delays, and it is unclear whether or not construction is still on this schedule. As of August 2014, construction was 39% complete. In May 2015, construction began on the plant's cooling pipeline system.

In December 2017, the company revised the projected completion dates to "end of December 2018" for Unit 1 and March 2019 for Unit 2.

In January 2018 the former head of PetroVietnam, Dinh La Thang, was sentenced to thirteen years in prison for embezzling funds from the Thái Bình-2 project. In November 2018 the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOIT) issued a report detailing problems with the construction of Thái Bình-2. Problems included a shortfall in financing for the project, low quality materials which in some cases were past their expiration dates, and the slow pace of construction, which rose from 80.9% complete in November 2017 to 82.78% complete in October 2018.

In March 2019 PetroVietnam announced that Thái Bình-2 was scheduled to enter operations in 2020. In June 2019 the completion date was delayed to 2021 in the Ministry Of Industry And Trade's report on the implementation of the revised seventh Power Development Plan (PDP7). IN July 2019 it was reported that credit for the project had been cut and construction had been suspended due to the embezzlement scandal and other problems detailed in the MOIT's November 2018 report. PetroVietnam was seeking approval from the MOIT and the Committee for Management of State Capital (CMSC) to resume construction. In November 2019 construction had resumed and the plant was reportedly 84.2% complete. Unit 1 is scheduled to come online in December 2020 and Unit 2 in the first quarter of 2021.

Thái Bình-3

In July 2018 it was reported that the Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) was pursuing a 440 MW addition at the plant, which has been included in the country's Power Plan VII.

Project Details

• Sponsor: Electricity of Vietnam and Electricity Generation Corporation 3 (EVNGENCO); (Thái Bình-1); PetroVietnam (Thái Bình-2); Vinacomin ((Thái Bình-3)
• Parent company:
• Location: Mỹ Lộc commune, Thái Thụy district, Thái Bình province, Vietnam
• Coordinates: Thái Bình-1: 20.4809977, 106.5604517 (exact); Thai Binh-2: 20.4828445, 106.563262 (exact)
• Status: Thai Binh-1 Unit 1: Operating; Thai Binh-1 Unit 2: Operating; Thai Binh-2: Unit 1: Construction; Unit 2: Construction; Thái Bình-3: Announced
• Gross Capacity: 1,800 MW (600 MW (Thái Bình-1); 1,200 MW (Thái Bình-2)); 440 MW (Thái Bình-3)
• Type: Subcritical (Thái Bình-1); Supercritical (Thái Bình-2)
• Start year: Nov. 2017 (Thái Bình-1 Unit 1); May 2018 (Thái Bình-1 Unit 2); 2020 (Thái Bình-2 Unit 1); 2021 (Thái Bình-2 Unit 2)
• Coal Type: Anthracite
• Coal Source: Domestic
• Source of financing:
  • Thai-Binh-2: Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Export-Import Bank of Korea, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Citibank, Mizuho Financial Group, China Development Bank
  • Thai-Binh-1: VND 26,500 billion (US$1.16 billion), with 85% from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and 15% from EVN

Articles and resources

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