Vietnam's first LNG-fuelled power plants start commercial operation

HANOI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Vietnam's first two power plants that solely use liquefied natural gas have started commercial operations, owner Petrovietnam Power POW.HM said on Monday.

The Nhon Trach 3 and Nhon Trach 4 plants in the southern province of Dong Nai have a combined capacity of 1.62 gigawatts and will be capable of generating 9 billion kilowatt-hours a year, Petrovietnam Power said in a statement.

They are the first in a fleet of 13 LNG-fired plants with a total capacity of 22.4 GW that Vietnam aims to complete by 2030, but the development of the other plants has faced delays.

The two plants were built by a consortium consisting of Vietnam's Lilama Corp. and South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. 028260.KS at a cost of $1.4 billion, using turbines supplied by General Electric GE.N, it said.