Thai Binh Power Center

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Thai Binh Power Center is an operating power station of at least 1800-megawatts (MW) in My Loc, Thai Thuy, Thai Binh, Vietnam with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Thai Binh Power Center	My Loc, Thai Thuy, Thai Binh, Vietnam	20.4809977, 106.5604517 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

Loading map...

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Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 1-1, Unit 1-2: 20.4809977, 106.5604517
• Unit 2-1, Unit 2-2, Unit 3-1: 20.4828445, 106.563262

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	Start year
Unit 1-1	operating	coal: anthracite	300	subcritical	2017
Unit 1-2	operating	coal: anthracite	300	subcritical	2018
Unit 2-1	operating	coal: anthracite	600	supercritical	2023
Unit 2-2	operating	coal: anthracite	600	supercritical	2023
Unit 3-1	cancelled	coal: unknown	440	unknown	–

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1-1	Vietnam Electricity LLC [100%]	Vietnam Electricity LLC [100.0%]
Unit 1-2	Vietnam Electricity LLC [100%]	Vietnam Electricity LLC [100.0%]
Unit 2-1	PetroVietnam Power Corporation JSC [100%]	PetroVietnam Power Corporation JSC [100.0%]
Unit 2-2	PetroVietnam Power Corporation JSC [100%]	PetroVietnam Power Corporation JSC [100.0%]
Unit 3-1	Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Holding Corp Ltd [100%]	Government of Vietnam [99.3%]; small shareholder(s) [0.7%]

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 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. Unit 2 was commissioned in May 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. The project was 85% complete as of the end of Q1 2020 however it was reportedly near bankruptcy. The government's State Capital Management Committee gave its sponsors permission to to use equity to finish the project as its borrowed funds were nearly depleted.

During a May 2021 visit to the construction site by representatives of the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, new target operation dates were announced: November 2022 for Unit 1, and December 2022 for Unit 2. During the visit, plant officials reported that construction was 86% complete, meaning that construction had barely progressed since March 2020. In May 2022, it was reported that Unit 1 would be commissioned in November 2022.

On July 4, 2022, MOIT appeared to provide an update on the draft PDP. The document’s list of major power projects planned for 2021-2030 (PDF pages 18-20) includes the project with progress at 94%.

As of September 2022, the project was still "facing many difficulties" but was 96.15% complete.

In December 2022, both units of the expansion were reaching final stages of construction and testing. Thái Bình-2 was expected to generate 4.6 billion kWh of electricity in 2023. In February 2023, EVN notified the MOIT of its concerns that Vietnam's coal imports would be insufficient to cover the additional demand from commissioning Thai Binh-2.

In May 2023, after 12 years of delay, Thái Bình-2 officially entered operation.

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. As of December 2020 the project has not advanced in more than two years, and appears to be shelved.

The project does not appear in the September 2021 or July 2022 drafts of the Power Development Plan 8 (PDP8).

With no apparent developments in over four years, the proposal was presumed to be cancelled.

Financing

Financing for Thái Bình-1

"Total investment exceeded VND 26,500bn (US$1.16bn), of which 85% were finance through a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and 15% from EVN."

Financing for Thái Bình-2

In August 2013, it was announced that US$141 million in loans will be provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Bank, and Citibank, with JBIC providing US$85 million of that. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance provided buyer's credit insurance for the portion financed by private banks. In December 2013, a second financing arrangement was announced for US$795m: the Export-Import Bank of Korea would provide the project with US$330 million in loans; US$270 million would be provided by the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd (BTMU), Citibank, HSBC Bank, Mizuho Bank, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), and Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), and insured by the Export-Import Bank of Korea; and US$195.25 million would be provided by BTMU, China Development Bank (CDB), Citibank, HSBC, Mizuho, OCBC and SCB. IJGlobal reports that financial close for the second agreement was reached on May 19th, 2015, but without providing exact debt amounts.

Opposition and impact

In July 2013, five environmental groups wrote to former President Barack Obama to stop U.S. funds for building the Thai Binh power plant in Vietnam. The groups, which included Friends of Earth, Greenpeace USA, Pacific Environment, Center for International Environmental Law, and Center for Biological Diversity, argued that the Thai Binh coal plant would use outdated tech and violate Obama’s Climate Action Plan. The U.S. Export-Import Bank subsequently did not proceed with financing U.S. exports to help build the Thai Binh plant.

In April 2015, a report released by environmentalists, such as the Friends of Earth Japan, detailed the reality of Japanese-funded coal plants and their harm, including the Vietnamese Thai Binh power plant.

In May 2019, environmentalist groups, such as Unfriend Coal, released a report around how Talanx needs to stop investing and insuring coal plants, including the Thai Binh power plant.

In April 2024, reporting stated that a large volume of coal was transported to Thai Binh Power Center on a daily basis. The coal shipment port was located close to the river, and dust "inevitably" (Google translate) entered the waterways. Representatives from Thái Bình-2 held a meeting with the community, where several residents raised concerns over the project's environmental impact. They also reportedly raised concerns about noise pollution.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.