Will Samsung find its opportunities in power sector in Vietnam?

Samsung Group, for instance, in late September clinched a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, to develop infrastructure projects, with a focus on the electricity sector.

The investor will prioritize investments in power plants rather than in shipbuilding, airports, petrochemical refinery complexes and information technology, which are business areas mentioned in the MOU.

Earlier, Samsung had visited the north-central province of Nghe An early last month to study the investment policies and opportunities to develop Quynh Lap 2 thermo-power plant project at Dong Hoi Industrial Park.

According to the General Directorate of Energy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Quynh Lap 2 is one among five electricity projects in the central and southern regions that Samsung will consider before choosing the most suitable scheme for investment.

Four other projects under Samsung’s consideration are Vung Ang 3 power project in Ha Tinh, Quang Trach 2 power project in Quang Binh, Song Hau 3 power project in Hau Giang and Kien Luong power project in Kien Giang.

Similarly, after a survey on a coastal wind power scheme in Vinh Chau Town in the Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang, Germany’s Enercon Industries Corporation has also pledged to invest in this project.

The project costs an estimated one billion euros and has a designed capacity of 2,600 MW. Enercon group deems this an ideal location for wind power development thanks to favorable natural and investment conditions.

Sembcorp Utilities Pte. Ltd as a subsidiary of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industrial Ltd., meanwhile, is also mulling a coal-fired thermo-power project in the central province of Quang Ngai with a total cost of roughly US$2 billion. Representatives of Sembcorp and the industry ministry have signed a MOU on constructing Dung Quat thermo-power plant with a designed capacity of 1,200 MW in Binh Son District in the province.

Meanwhile, leaders of the south-central coastal province of Khanh Hoa recently had a meeting with a consortium grouping Japan’s Sumitomo and Vietnam’s Hanoinco on the construction progress of a thermo-power plant at Van Phong Economic Zone in the locality. At the meeting, Sumitomo said it was trying to complete related procedures to start construction of the scheme in August 2015 to have it put into operation in October 2019.

Vietnam is in dire need of capital for power projects due to the fast-increasing demand for electricity to support economic development.

According to the master plan on power development endorsed by the Government, the country should put into operations 5,000MW of new power sources a year between now and 2020, costing some US$5 billion annually. In the following decade, the country needs some US$60 billion for the industry.

Source: SGT