The Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) and its foreign partners have signed a 1.36 billion USD contract to build the Vinh Tan thermal power plant No. 4, the main facility of the Vinh Tan Power Centre, which is the country’s largest coal-fired power centre.

The Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract has 85 percent of its capital co-funded by the Korean Eximbank (KEXIM), the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation (K-Sure), the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The remaining 15 percent are covered by the project’s investor EVN Power Generation Company 3, EVN Genco 3.

Witnessing the signing ceremony in Hanoi on December 23, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said around a third of the contract’s workload, including the engineering task, will be undertaken by local engineers and technicians, allowing them to absorb new technologies transferred by global giants.

Construction of the two-turbine plant, located in the central province of Binh Thuan, about 250 km from Ho Chi Minh City, is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2014.

The plant’s first turbine is planned for operation in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the second, by the end of the third quarter in 2018.

It will use a thermal technology that is environmentally friendly, meeting Vietnamese and international standards on emissions.

Once operational, the plant is projected to generate around 7.2 billion kWh for the national grid.

The Vinh Tan Power Station is comprised of four thermal power plants with a combined capacity of 5,600 MW. It will generate power mostly for the southern central region and localities in the south.-VNA