Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On September 6, 2017, China Development Bank (CDB) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) signed an $860 million cooperation and framework agreement with An Khánh-Bắc Giang Thermal Power Joint Stock Company— a project company and subsidiary of An Khanh Group— for the 650MW An Khanh-Bac Giang Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project. The borrowing terms of this loan and the financial breakdown between CDB and ICBC are unknown. The total cost of this Independent Power Project (IPP) is $1.027 billion and it is being financed with a mix of debt from Chinese banks and equity from An Khanh Group. The purpose of the project is to construct a 650MW coal-fired power plant — with two, 325MW power generation units (Unit 1 and Unit 2) — in Bắc Lũng commune, Lục Nam district, and Bắc Giang province. Satellite photograph from Planet does not show any signs of construction taking place between November 2019 and May 2020. In June 2019, the completion date for Unit 1 was delayed to 2023. In February 2020, the power plant was reportedly having trouble securing financing from European banks (because it does not use supercritical or better technology) and Chinese banks would not disburse funds because the project company’s power purchase agreement (PPA) had not been approved by the Vietnam Ministry of Industry And Trade (MOIT) or Vietnam Electricity (EVN). In February 2020, The power plant's sponsors asked that the Government of Vietnam approve a PPA in which the plant would operate at 90% of its capacity for ten years. ICBC and CDB have reportedly made approval of the PPA a condition for loan disbursement.
Staff comments
1.This project is also known as the 2 x 325 MW An Khanh-Bac Giang Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Project. The Vietnamese project title is dự án Nhà máy Nhiệt điện An Khánh - Bắc Giang. The An Khánh - Bắc Giang power station was formerly known as Lục Nam power station. 2. On September 14, 2016, An Khánh-Bắc Giang Thermal Power Joint Stock Company signed a $753 million loan agreement with ICBC's Hanoi Branch and Hong Kong Branch for this same project (see "KÝ THỎA THUẬN CUNG CẤP TÍN DỤNG CHO NHÀ MÁY NHIỆT ĐIỆN AN KHÁNH - BẮC GIANG"). However, AidData is unable to verify this agreement with any other sources. This issue merits further investigation. 2.An Khánh-Bắc Giang Thermal Power Joint Stock Company's Vietnamese name is Công ty cổ phần nhiệt điện An Khánh – Bắc Giang. 3.The project is referred to as 越南安庆北江65万千瓦燃煤电厂项目 or 越南安庆北江项目 in Chinese. 4.An Khanh Group was created in February 2016.