Vietnam Picks EDF to Manage CCGT Project

Vietnam confirmed March 27 EDF's role as leader of an international consortium to build a gas-fired power plant at Son My, during an official visit to France by  Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, and the industry minister Tran Tuan Anh.

The 2-gigawatt  Son My 1 project, which uses combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) technology, is due to be commissioned by 2023/2024, with a view to meeting the strong and growing demand for electricity in the south of Vietnam, EDF said.

EDF will have a 37.5% stake and is leading the consortium in charge of the project’s studies, together with one Vietnamese partner (Pacific Corporation, 25%) and two Japanese partners (Sojitz 18.75% and Kyushu 18.75%).

EDF said that the Vietnamese government’s decision "marks a decisive step in the development of plans to build a gas power plant at Son My in Vietnam," and is in line both with Vietnam's 'energy transition' and its own aim of trebling its international business by three come 2030.

The French power giant is already active in Vietnam via its Mekong Energy Company subsidiary (EDF 56.25%) which operates the Phu My 2.2 facility, comprising two CCGT plants with a total capacity of 715 MW. In neighbouring Laos, EDF has a 40% interest in the large 1,070 MW Nam Theun 2 hydro-electric power plant that started generating in 2010.