On 26 January 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (the “MOIT”) delivers Letter No. 644/TTr-BCT (“Letter 644”) to the Vice Prime Minister – Mr. Tran Hong Ha – regarding the proposal for the issuance of the Implementation Plan for the National Power Development Master Plan VIII for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 (the “Implementation Plan”). We would like to highlight some key notes of the Letter 644 Implementation Plan as below:

(i) To approve the Implementation Plan in two (02) phases whereby the first phase will mainly cover the the list of important and prioritized power source and power grid projects together with the list of wind power projects, small hydropower, biomass power, electricity produced from waste, etc. which meets the criteria set out in the instructions, the types of power sources that meet the criteria to be developed. The second phase will cover the approval of the list of wind power projects, small hydropower, biomass power, electricity produced from waste, etc. not falling not meeting the criteria to be included in the first phase after being reviewed and re-proposed by the competent authority.

(ii) The Implementation Plan will consist of nine (09) chapters, including the following key provisions (a) Forecast of electricity demand; (b) Investment plan for the power sectors; (c) Land use requirements; and (d) Solutions and resources to conduct the Implementation Plan.

(iii) The list of important and prioritized electricity projects determined based on criteria and justifications outlined in Decision No. 500/QD-TTg is as follows:

(a) LNG thermal power with a total capacity of 22,400 MW (Table 1 in Appendix III of Letter 644);
(b) Coal-fired thermal power with a total capacity of 30,127 MW (Table 2 in Appendix III of Letter 644);
(c) Co-generation, residual heat utilization, blast furnace gas, and by-products with a total capacity of 2,700 MW (Table 4 in Appendix III of Letter 644);
(d) Domestic gas-fired thermal power with a total capacity of 14,930 MW (Table 5 in Appendix III of Letter 644);
(e) Hydropower with a total capacity of 29,346 MW, including medium and large projects (Table 6 in Appendix III of Letter 644);
(f) Tidal hydropower with a total capacity of 2,400 MW (Table 7 in Appendix III of Letter 644).

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