HANOI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Authorities in Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province plan to select an investor through a bidding process by October to develop a $2.5 billion LNG-fired power plant, a provincial official said on Wednesday.

The Nghi Son LNG Power Plant in the province's Nghi Son Economic Zone would have a designed capacity of 1.5 gigawatts and would start commercial operations by 2030.

"The bids will be opened on September 30 and the name of the investor will be announced mid or late in October," said Nguyen Anh Tuan, deputy director of the zone.

The project would also include an LNG terminal and storage, and regasification facilities, Tuan added.

State media reported in March that five consortiums have been chosen as potential investors, including Korea Southern Power [RIC:RIC:KEPCOS.UL], Korea Gas Corp (036460.KS) , opens new tab, Daewoo Engineering & Construction (047040.KS) , opens new tab, Gulf Energy Development (GULF.BK) , opens new tab, SK E&S [RIC:RIC:SKENS.UL], and some Vietnamese companies.

Electricity-hungry Vietnam wants to have 13 LNG power plants with combined capacity of 22.4 GW by 2030, but is unlikely to meet that target as power producers and foreign investors balk at the country's strategy for making the super-chilled fuel affordable.

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https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/vietnam-select-investor-25-bln-nghi-son-lng-power-plant-by-october-2024-08-21/