Nhon Trach 3 and 4 thermal power plants are expected to lose 13 billion VND in interest and revenue from electricity generation every day because of schedule delays.
The above information was given at the meeting on the progress of the Nhon Trach 3 and 4 Dong Nai Thermal Power Plant project, on the afternoon of May 9. This is the first thermal power project using liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Vietnam, with a capacity of 1,624 MW and an investment capital of 1.4 billion USD.
This project is part of the national energy plan until 2030 approved by the Prime Minister since 2019. According to the plan, Nhon Trach 3 will generate test electricity in May, before commercial operation in November. Nhon Trach 4 Expected to operate in May 2025. However, the overall progress of the two factories has only reached about 85%.
According to Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien, the project has disbursed about 30,000 billion VND. With an average loan interest rate of 8% per year, the corresponding interest payable per day is about 6-7 billion VND. Not to mention, due to the slow operation of the project, Dong Nai province lost revenue of 6-6.5 billion VND a day from electricity generation.
“Thus, the factory suffers daily losses of about 12 – 13 billion VND,” the Minister said, adding that there are still uncalculated losses, affecting the investment environment and lack of power source for the whole country.
This project has three bottlenecks, in which the issues of power purchase agreement (PPA), gas and capacity release lines have been resolved. Accordingly, PVN and EVN have a PPA agreement based on a specific mechanism for gas power projects. EVN also commits to implementing a transmission project to release the capacity of these two plants.
The only remaining problem is the premises and land procedures in Dong Nai. In particular, Nhon Trach 3 is about 6 months behind schedule due to problems with site clearance, leading to Nhon Trach 4 also being delayed.
Minister Dien said that if this problem cannot be resolved, the project will continue to be behind schedule, leading to the risk of collapse. Because no financial sponsor will lend money, the investor must pay fines from the contractors for not fulfilling their commitments.
Mr. Dien requested the People’s Committee of Dong Nai province and other parties to continue supporting EVN in deploying two 500 KV transmission lines, handling legal issues related to land allocation and planning to soon put the project into operation.
Dong Nai province must complete the issuance of a Land Use Rights Certificate to the investor, PV Power, before May, to have enough legal basis for the project to continue implementation.
Nhon Trach 3 and 4 thermal power projects were assigned by the Government to PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) as the investor. The joint venture general contractor is Samsung C&T Corperation and Vietnam Machinery Installation Corporation (Lilama). It is expected that when these two plants are operational, they will add about 9 billion kWh a year to the national electricity system.