Vinh Tan power station

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Vĩnh Tân power station is a proposed 6,225-megawatt (MW) coal power plant complex under development in Bình Thuận province, Vietnam.

Location

The map below shows the location where the plant is being built, in Vĩnh Tân commune, Tuy Phong district, Bình Thuận province. The sites of Vĩnh Tân-1, 2, 3, and 4 are arrayed in order from east to west.

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Background

The Vĩnh Tân power station complex is made up of four separate plants.

Vĩnh Tân-1

In July 2007, a consortium of Vinacomin and China Southern Power Grid Company received financing from the Asian Development Bank to build the two-unit, 1,200-MW Vĩnh Tân-1. Vinacomin signed a deal with two Indonesian coal mining companies in July 2008.

In December 2012, the consortium — now also joined by the China Power Investment Corporation — finally signed an deal with the Vietnamese government for the plant's construction; the plant is scheduled to come online in 2018. The two Chinese firms are providing 95% of the $1.6-$1.7 billion in capital for the plant's construction. The three companies signed a construction contract in March 2014; the two Chinese companies are apparently going to serve as the construction contractors.

Construction began on Vĩnh Tân-1 in July 2015. Unit 1 is scheduled to be completed in late 2018, and Unit 2 in early 2019. As of August 2016, construction was 23% complete.

In November 2017, the plant operators told the government that the plant would be completed 11 months ahead of schedule, with Unit 1 going into operation in 2018 and Unit in 2019.

In April 2018 unit 1 was connected to the grid and undergoing testing. Unit 1 was commissioned on June 5, 2018. In January 2019 it was reported that Unit 2 had undergone successful test operations.

Vĩnh Tân-2

In October 2009, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) signed a construction contract with Shanghai Electric Group for the construction of the two-unit, 1,245-MW, $1.3 billion Vĩnh Tân-2. Construction work began in August 2010.

The first unit of the plant came online in January 2014, and the second in September 2014.

Vĩnh Tân-3

In October 2008, OneEnergy, a partnership of China's CLP Group and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation, announced that it would be partnering with Electricity of Vietnam to build the three-unit, 1,980-MW, $1.1 billion Vĩnh Tân-3, planning on beginning construction in 2010. The project is being created by the Vinh Tan 3 Energy Joint Stock Company (VTEC), which is owned by OneEnergy Ventures Limited (a subsidiary of CLP Holdings), EVN, and Pacific Group Corporation.

In October 2013, the consortium signed a construction agreement with the Harbin Power Equipment Company; construction would begin in 2014, and the plant would go online in 2018. As of April 2015, the project's sponsors had reportedly still not yet reached final agreement with the Ministry of Industry & Trade on several issues. In October 2015 the China Development Bank reached an MoU with CLP Holdings' Vinh Tan 3 Energy Joint Stock Company on investment and financial arrangements for the Build-Operate-Transfer thermal power plant project Vinh Tan 3. Commercial operation of the first unit is planned for 2020.

According to a July 2017 report, as part of a larger restructuring of the company, EVN plans to divest ownership of Vinh Tan-3 after the project is completed.

In June 2019 the completion date for Unit 1 was delayed to 2024 and the completion date for Units 2-3 was delayed to 2025 in the Ministry Of Industry And Trade's report on the implementation of the revised seventh Power Development Plan (PDP7).

Vĩnh Tân-4

In December 2013, Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) signed a construction agreement with the Mitsubishi Corporation and Doosan Heavy Industries (a subsidiary of the Doosan Group) to build the two-unit, 1,200-MW, $1.4 billion Vĩnh Tân-4. Construction is slated to begin in early 2014, and the plant would come online in 2017-18.

Construction began in March 2014, with Unit 1 scheduled to go online in 2017 and Unit 2 in 2018. The project is financed by both Korea Export-Import Bank and Japan Bank of International Cooperation. Toshiba Corporation won the contract to provide the plant's turbines and generators in July 2014. Construction was 30% complete as of June 2015. As of July 2016, completion of Unit 1 was scheduled for Q4 2017, and Unit 2 for Q2 2018.

In March 2017, with construction still ongoing, welders working near the flue-gas desulphurization system accidentally ignited insulation, causing a large fire that injured two workers and damaged the plant. A June 2017 EVN press release seemed to indicate that, despite the fire, construction continued to be on track to be completed according to schedule.

As of July 2017, commercial operations were expected for Unit 1 in December 2017, for Unit 2 in June 2018, and for the Extension in April 2019.

Unit 1 was completed on December 26, 2017. Unit 2 was operating and online as of October 2018.

Vĩnh Tân-4 mở rộng (Vĩnh Tân-4 Extension)

The Revised Power Development Plan VII lists a 600 MW extension unit for Vinh Tan-4, scheduled for 2019. A ground-breaking ceremony on the new unit was held in April 2016. The unit is being built by EVN, with Doosan and Mitsubishi Corporation serving as construction contractors. Generators and turbines are being built by Toshiba. In April 2019 it was reported that construction was 97.6% complete and that the plant was scheduled to be commissioned in December 2019. In April 2019 the plant conducted successful test operations and is scheduled to be commissioned in October 2019. GreenID reported that Vĩnh Tân-4 Extension was operating as of September 2019.

Environmental Issues and Protests

In mid-April 2015 thousands of local residents blocked the National Highway No 1A in protest against coal dust pollution from the plant. Initial media reports in English gave few details of the cause of the dust pollution. However, in a statement EVN said that it would cease dumping any coal dust for the next 10 days while discussions are held with local residents. A later report stated that on the afternoon of April 14 thousands of residents blocked the highway "to protest the plant after strong winds blew an unusually large amount of coal dust into the neighborhood that day." On the first night of the protests, a police riot squad tried to remove what had been a peaceful protest. Police fired tear gas canisters into the protestors, and some in the crowd threw rocks and petrol bombs at the police. Dozens of protesters were injured.The protest ran for 30 hours and the highway was not cleared until 9 a.m. on April 16.

In December 2016, a trial of 12 people began in connection with the disturbances, and the group was sentenced to between six and nine months in jail. Of those sentenced, the sentences of five people were suspended.

It was reported that since the commissioning of the second unit in September last year the plant has been generating 1500 tonnes of coal ash (referred to in the article as 'slag') a day, with the transport of the waste by truck from the plant to the landfill resulting in air pollution along the way. Between the dust pollution and air pollution from the plant, residents complained of the health impacts, especially on children. The Vietnam Environment Administration fining the plant operator VND1.5 billion (US$69,510) in December 2014 for environmental violations. However, pollution problems remained. Following the protest, the company has changed the routing of the trucks, wet the loads before transport and said it would investigate using the coal ash wastes in cement.

Asiaone reported that EVN had "covered its 6,000sq.m cinder dumping ground with canvas and watered it, fully covered all its trucks carrying cinder, and began to clean the roads regularly pending construction of dedicated roads for the trucks. It had improved water supply in the dumping area and poured water on the cinder to prevent it from flying and made sure all necessary equipment to limit pollution was in working order." Asiaone reported that Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai "stressed that the Government constantly reminded all thermal power producers to limit pollution, and criticised Vinh Tan Thermal Plant No 2 for ignoring all such instructions." Hai was reported as stating that all the coal ash should be used in cement instead of being dumped. "If we can manage to collect cinder for cement production, it will both bring financial benefit and resolve the pollution problem," he said.

In January 2016, local officials complained that ash and coal dust from the plant are blowing into their communities. In late 2016, the news media published concerns about plans for Vĩnh Tân-1 to dredge a navigable channel for barges transporting waste, with local fishery management officials arguing that the dredging and dumping of dredged soil could harm corals and other marine life in the area.

In June 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment approved the dumping of a million cubic meters of mud and sand removed to deepen the dock area of the plant. Marine scientists expressed concerns over the effect of the sludge on marine ecosystems. According to the scientists, the government's assurance that the sludge would not contain toxins or radioactive materials was beside the point, since the real hazard from dumping such large amounts of sludge would be the the muddying of large areas of ocean and the effect of that muddying on photosynthesis in areas populated by 1 million organisms per square meter. Of particular concern was the 12,500 hectacre Hon Cau Marine Reserve, a spawning ground for shrimp, fish, and sea turtles, and home to 34 rare and endangered species.

In July 2017, after reports that the names of three scientists had been "impersonated" on the environmental evaluation for the sludge dumping, the Vietnam Fisheries Association submitted a written request for the dumping permit to be suspended.

In August 2017, The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment cancelled the dumping and instead came to an agreement with the Binh Thuan People's Committee to use the sludge as fill to prevent coastal erosion in another local harbor. The decision followed the submittal of thousands of names on a protest petition and an attempted march from Ho Chi Minh City to the plant site by concerned citizens.

In July 2017, EVN GENCO submitted a request for an even larger 2.4-million-cubic-meter dumping of sludge into the sea, raising further concerns of environmental impacts.

On December 15, 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung visited Vinh Tan port and expressed concern over the effect of the sludge dumping on the Hon Cau Marine Reserve and the Vinh Tan shrimp breeding grounds, which play a major role in Vietnam's fishing industry. The Deputy Prime Minister called for the creation of a new joint management board to better control the project.

In June 2018, faced with ongoing opposition to the plant by local residents, EVN proposed to the Government and the Ministry of Public Security to bring Vinh Tan Thermal Power Center into special security protection.

In March 2019, Vietnam’s State Audit Agency found that the 1200 MW Vinh Tan 1 plant had violated environmental laws. Violations included discharging cooling water into the sea without approval from the Environment Ministry, poor monitoring of wastewater, and nitrogen oxide emissions in excess of permit limits. It also found that the plant had limited coal ash storage capacity. The audit also criticised the Binh Thuan provincial government and the ministries of environment, industry and trade for inadequate supervision of the project and lack of proper assessment of environmental impacts.

Project Details

• Sponsor:
  • Vĩnh Tân-1: Vinacomin, China Southern Power Grid Company
  • Vĩnh Tân-2: Electricity of Vietnam
  • Vĩnh Tân-3: OneEnergy Ventures Limited, EVN, and Pacific Group Corporation
  • Vĩnh Tân-4 + Extension: Electricity of Vietnam
• Parent company:
  • Phase III: CLP Holdings, EVN, and Pacific Group Corporation
• Location: Vĩnh Tân commune, Tuy Phong district, Bình Thuận province, Vietnam
• Coordinates: 11.32082, 108.80630 (exact)
• Status:
  • Vĩnh Tân-1: Operating (Unit 1), Construction (Unit 2)
  • Vĩnh Tân-2: Operating
  • Vĩnh Tân-3: Pre-permit development
  • Vĩnh Tân-4: Operating (Unit 1), Operating (Unit 2)
  • Vĩnh Tân-4 Extension: Operating
• Gross Capacity: 6,225 MW (1,200 MW (Vĩnh Tân-1); 1,245 MW (Vĩnh Tân-2); 1,980 MW (Vĩnh Tân-3); 1,200 MW (Vĩnh Tân-4); 600 MW ((Vĩnh Tân-4 extension))
• Type: Subcritical (Vĩnh Tân-1); Supercritical (Vĩnh Tân-2); Supercritical (Vĩnh Tân-3); Supercritical (Vĩnh Tân-4); Ultra-supercritical (Vĩnh Tân-4 extension)
• Projected in service:
  • Vĩnh Tân-1: Unit 1: 2018, Unit 2: 2019
  • Vĩnh Tân-2: 2014
  • Vĩnh Tân-3: 2024 (Unit 1), 2025 (Units 2-3)
  • Vĩnh Tân-4: Q4 2017 (Unit 1), Q3 2018 (Unit 2)
  • Vĩnh Tân-4 Extension: 2019
• Coal Type: Vinh Tan 1 and 2: Domestic Anthracite; Vinh Tan 3: Mixture of domestic bituminous coal and bituminous coal from Indonesia and Australia shipped in 100,000 DWT vessels; Vinh Tan 4: bituminous/sub-bituminous coal from Indonesia and Australia
• Coal Source: PT Berau and Maintime (Indonesia) (Vĩnh Tân-1); Imported (Vĩnh Tân-3 Unit 1)
• Source of financing: Asian Development Bank and Export-Import Bank of China, China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation (Sinosure), and China Development Bank (Vĩnh Tân-1); Export-Import Bank of China, Vietnam Development Bank (Vĩnh Tân-2); China Development Bank and CLP Holdings (Vĩnh Tân-3); Export-Import Bank of Korea, Korea Trade Insurance Corporation, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (Vĩnh Tân-4)

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