Doosan Enerbility announced on June 25th that it had signed a memorandum of understanding(MOU) on pursuing eco-friendly fuel conversion projects with three local operators of thermal power plants in Vietnam. The MOU signing ceremony, which was held on June 23rd in Hanoi, was attended by key figures, such as Chang-Yang Lee, South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Nguyen Chi Dung, Vietnam’s Minister of Planning and Investment and Yeonin Jung, Doosan Enerbility’s President and COO.
With the signing of this MOU, Doosan Enerbility will be pursuing various cooperation initiatives with Vietnamese companies such as cooperating with NS2PC,* the operator of the Nghi Son 2 Power Plant, on an eco-friendly fuel conversion project, cooperating with the Vietnamese power company PV Power** on an ammonia co-firing project and cooperating with EVN GENCO3*** on the development of eco-friendly fuel conversion technology and related project. As stipulated in the MOU, the plan for development and implementation of eco-friendly fuel conversion technology will be devised by next year, after which a feasibility study for a pilot project will be carried out and a demonstration project will be identified and pursued.
* NS2PC (Nghi Son 2 Power Limited Liability Company): a special purpose company jointly owned by Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), Marubeni Corporation and Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
** PV Power: a subsidiary of the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group(PVN) which handles the project delivery of power plant projects*** GENCO3: a subsidiary of Electricity of Vietnam(EVN) which handles power plant services projects
Prior to signing the MOU, Doosan Enerbility had given a presentation under the theme “Energy Cooperation Plan for the Net-Zero Era” at the “Korea-Vietnam Business Forum” that had been attended by key figures from the governmental and business sectors of the two countries. The presentation outlined the solutions being offered to help Vietnam achieve its Net-Zero goal, specifically touching upon Doosan’s competency in wind power projects, plans for fuel conversion of existing gas-fired combined cycle power plants to hydrogen (utilizing hydrogen gas turbines) and the plans for fuel conversion of existing coal-fired thermal power plants (applying ammonia co-firing technology, etc.).
“Doosan has been working alongside Vietnam to help promote the growth of Vietnam’s power sector and create more jobs through efforts, such as participating in numerous power plant projects in Vietnam and setting up a local manufacturing plant in 2007,” said Yeonin Jung, Doosan Enerbility’s President and COO. “As the Vietnamese government has announced that it would be pursuing the Net-Zero 2050 goal, Doosan looks forward to joining Vietnam on this meaningful journey and offering assistance with our eco-friendly solutions which were acquired over the years.”
The Vietnamese government had declared at the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference held in Glasgow, UK back in November 2021 its intention to achieve net-zero by 2050. Looking at Vietnam’s gross installed capacity as of 2020, which amounted to approximately 69.3GW, coal accounted for 20.43GW, gas for 7.09GW and petroleum for 1.93GW, which shows that the country relies heavily on thermal power plants. In order for Vietnam to achieve its net-zero goal, actions such as the expansion of renewable energy, along with the adoption of eco-friendly fuel conversion technology aimed at carbon emissions reduction, will be required.
▲Attendees pose for a group photo at the MOU signing ceremony held on June 23rd in Hanoi for pursuing cooperation on eco-friendly fuel conversion projects - Chang-Yang Lee, S. Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy (8th from the left); Nguyen Chi Dung, Vietnam’s Minister of Planning & Investment (9th from the left); Yeonin Jung, Doosan Enerbility’s President & COO (7th from the left); Hongook Park, Doosan Enerbility’s Power Services BG CEO (4th from the right); Jungkwan Kim, Doosan Enerbility’s Chief Marketing Officer (5th from the left).