The first hydropower project in Vietnam financed by the World Bank, the US$412 million 260-MW Trung Son hydropower project, began commercial operation on Sept. 6.
The facility is located in Trung Son commune, Quan Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province, Vietnam, and according to the World Bank, it is financing $330 million of the project’s cost.
Toshiba Corp. announced yesterday that all four 65 MW Francis turbines and generators at Trung Son were online. In April, project owner Trung Son Hydropower One Member LLC under Power Generation Corp. No. 2 (EVNGENCO2), announced Unit 3 was officially energized and successfully synchronized into the national power grid.
Vietnam’s state-owned utility, Vietnam Electricity (EVN) owns EVNGENCO2.
THPC, Toshiba’s Chinese subsidiary for the manufacture, sales and maintenance of hydroelectric equipment, received the equipment supply order from EVN in Aug. 2013, as a member of a consortium with HydroChina Corp.
In June, HydroWorld.com reported districts in Vietnam’s mountainous central province of Quang Nam plan to use US$400 million from investments for infrastructure by 2030 for ginseng production and building four hydropower plants.
According to EVN, the Trung Son hydropower plant will contribute to the national power system an annual electricity generation output of 1.018 billion kWh, at the same time the plant will help control floods and irrigation in the downstream area of Ma river. The project will also create “a new driving force for economic development, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation in Quan Hoa district (Thanh Hoa province).”
EVN also said one of the objectives of the project is to mitigate and minimize social and environmental impacts caused by all construction and operation activities of the project.
Source: hydroworld.com
