South Korea GS Energy to build 3,000MW LNG power plant in Vietnam

South Korea’s GS Energy has inked a deal with Vietnam-focused fund manager VinaCapital to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fired power plant in southern Vietnam.

VinaCapital CEO Don Lam and GS Energy President Huh Yong-soo. Photoe: GS Energy

Through the partnership, the two firms will jointly build a 3,000-megawattt LNG-fired combined cycle power plant and sell electricity to state-run Vietnam Electricity (EVN), GS Energy said in a statement.

The signing ceremony took place in Seoul on November 28 in the attendance of GS Energy President Huh Yong-soo and VinaCapital CEO Don Lam.

To operate and manage the power plant, GS Energy plans to establish an LNG value chain in Vietnam by introducing LNG and managing storage and vaporization facilities.

“The government’s active support including the New Southern Policy has significantly helped us to clinch the latest strategic deal with VinaCapital,” the Korea Herald quoted GS Energy President Huh Yong-soo as saying.

The company also said that it will expand its core businesses, including petrochemistry, resources development and integrated energy supply in overseas markets.

The partnership enables GS Energy, which is South Korea’s largest private power producer, to boost power generation in Vietnam in the context that the Southeast Asian country is actively seeking to ramp up energy production to feed its rapid growing economy.

To push forward the development of LNG-to-power, the government of Vietnam has issued a number of policies and initiatives to increase the LNG utilization.

Under the Vietnam Gas Industry Development Master Plan to 2035, the gas production volume across the country will increase from 10 billion cubic meter (cu.m) per year to 21 billion cu.m/year in the 2015 – 2035 period.