A leading U.S. power company and a Vietnamese economic group will pour some 1 billion U.S. dollars into building a 1,000-MW thermoelectric plant in Vietnam's northern region.

The U.S. firm AES and the state-run Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) have signed an in-principle agreement to establish a venture to construct the plant in Quang Ninh province, which will become operational in 2010, local newspaper Vietnam Investment Review reported Monday.

AES will complete the feasibility study for the coal-fired plant named Mong Duong 2 by mid-2006 to ensure that construction can begin next July, Vinacomin Deputy General Director Nguyen Duc Trang said.

Vinacomin, merged from the Vietnam Coal Corporation and the Vietnam Mineral Corporation, plans to put into operation, besides Mong Duong 2, several small thermoelectric plants in the northern region by 2010.

The state-owned Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has recently estimated that electricity shortage in the country will rise from 1.1 billion kwh in 2006 to 10.3 billion KWH in 2009 before dropping to 7.2 billion KWH in 2010 if no urgent measures are taken, the newspaper said.

The corporation EVN, Vietnam's biggest power producer and sole distributor, is building a 1,000-MW plant named Mong Duong 1 in Quang Ninh. Mong Duong 1 and Mong Duong 2 will consume some 6 million tons of coal each year.

Source: Xinhua