Vietnam needs $135B to develop power projects by 2030

88% of the estimate is for power plants and the rest for the grid, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a proposal submitted to the government as it seeks approval to start implementing Power Development Plan 8.

The government’s approval is necessary for projects to begin. One of them is a 514-kilovolt grid connecting Quang Binh Province with Hung Yen Province with a price tag of $1 billion.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in early July ordered Vietnam Electricity to start developing this project so that it can begin operation in June of next year, 12 months earlier than the original plan.

The project will double the capacity of transferring electricity from the south to the north and reduce shortages.

The Power Development Plan 8, for 2021-2030, will require 86,500 hectares of land and 111,600 hectares of sea.

A draft of the PDP8 seen by Reuters shortly before the ministry statement showed the plan would more than double the country’s power generation capacity to 158 GW by 2030 from 69 GW at the end of 2020.

Power plants using domestic gas and imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) would be the main source of the country’s power generation mix by 2030, accounting for 37.33 GW, or 23.6%, according to the draft.