France's EDF Vietnam Power Plant to Open in November
Wed Oct 5, 2005
HANOI (Reuters) - A new 700 megawatt power plant will start up in Vietnam next month, the first to be built there by Electricite de France [EDF.UL] (EDF), at an estimated cost of $400 million, the French embassy in Hanoi said on Wednesday.
Construction of the Phu My 2.2 gas-fired plant in the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau has been completed and will officially begin operation in November, said the embassy's trade and economic attache.
It will add about 6 percent to Vietnam's 11,000 MW of power capacity.
The project has an operational life of 20 years and will be handed by French state-owned EDF to the Vietnamese government under a build-operate-transfer contract signed in 1999.
Phu My 2.2 is part of the giant 3,600 megawatt Phu My complex, which takes natural gas from the Nam Con Son Basin in waters off southeastern Vietnam via a pipeline operated by British oil firm BP Plc.
The power plant will help the communist country offset a severe power crunch forecast for 2006 due to expected drought and soaring demand which has led Hanoi to plan for around 60 additional plants by 2020, officials have said.
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