Vietnam seeks to accelerate nuclear power plans

: Coal
26/01/22

Vietnam aims to soon conclude negotiations with Russia for its first nuclear power plant and secure a technology partner for another project, as part of broader plans to speed up its nuclear ambitions and cut reliance on coal.

The southeast Asian country revived its nuclear plans last year to build two plants with a combined capacity of 400MW by 2030, after shelving a 4GW nuclear program in 2016 because of budget constraints and safety concerns.

Authorities are now pushing to complete technology negotiations with Russia by end of this month for the Ninh Thuan 1 plant, which would be funded by state-owned power utility EVN, the company said. Another state-owned company, PVN, will finance the Ninh Thuan 2 project, for which Vietnam is seeking a separate technology partner. Authorities held talks with Hungary last year on training engineers to manage nuclear operations, laying the groundwork for a domestic workforce to support the nuclear programme.

Vietnam's push comes as power demand continues to rise and the country works to support economic growth. The nuclear plan aligns with the country's ambitions to be net zero by 2050. Coal-fired generation accounted for 46pc of Vietnam's electricity in 2025, underscoring the importance of its coal-fired utilities in meeting demand and supporting economic growth. Vietnam expects power demand to continue to rise in coming years in line with projections of strong economic growth.

Vietnam's installed generation capacity, excluding electricity imports, reached about 87.6GW at the end of 2025, up by 6.4GW from 2024. The country aims to raise total capacity to 150GW by 2030, partly supported by growth in non-coal-based generation fleet.

Nuclear project

Deputy prime minister Bui Thanh Son on 15 January announced the launch of the resettlement and site-clearance project for the country's first nuclear power plant. The Ninh Thuan 1 plant is expected to cost about 6.7 trillion Vietnamese dong (about $255mn), of which D5.28 trillion would be earmarked for compensation and site clearance, EVN said.

The renewed nuclear push follows prime minister Pham Minh Chinh's review and assessment of progress in the national nuclear power programme, part of Vietnam's efforts to ensure stable nuclear power supply in the country by 2031 and beyond.

By Saurabh Chaturvedi

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26/01/20

Origin extends Australia’s Eraring coal plant to 2029

Sydney, 20 January (Argus) — Australian utility and upstream gas firm Origin Energy will continue running the 2,880MW Eraring coal-fired power station in New South Wales (NSW) state until 2029, out from 2027 previously, in the second such extension of the plant's lifetime. Origin's decision comes after the Australian Energy Market Operator's (Aemo) Transition Plan for System Security in December 2025 found that the generator would need to be kept on line beyond its 2027 retirement date due to insufficient replacement capacity. The plant was previously expected to close in 2025 but this was pushed back in 2024, due to insufficient replacement capacity. Keeping Eraring on line until April 2029 will allow for development of more renewables, storage and transmission projects, Origin said in its 20 January announcement. The firm also highlighted "uncertainty regarding the reliability of Australia's aging coal and gas fleet". Origin does not plan to invest in further major maintenance ahead of the plant's closure and will maintain its 2030 target of cutting 20mn t of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions by 2030, based on 2018-19 levels. Eraring's scope 1 emissions were 13.5mn t CO2e in the year to 30 June 2025, Origin reported. The company also holds a 27.5pc share of emissions from the 9mn t/yr Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) joint venture in Queensland state where it is the upstream operator of the project. No more subsidies The NSW state government's offer to underwrite Eraring's operations for two years will end in 2027 as previously announced. Australia is attempting to transition its electricity markets to become majority renewables-based. Canberra is focusing on a goal of 82pc renewable grid penetration by 2030. But this timeline is unlikely to be realised due to a slow build out of new transmission to connect wind and solar to the grid, many analysts said, while the 2,200MW Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project — designed to provide longer term storage capacity — has been delayed multiple times due to problems drilling new tunnels. Victoria state, Australia's second largest by population after NSW, is also expected to miss its 2030 renewable energy goal of 65pc generation . Queensland is meanwhile planning to continue to run its coal-fired plants into the 2040s after its state government dumped the previous administration's plans for a giant pumped hydro scheme. Meeting Australia's 2030 emissions reduction target of 43pc below 2005 levels is contingent on the retirement of major CO2 emitters such as Eraring , according to a 2025 government report. By Tom Major Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

IMF warns of major risk to growth from US-EU tensions

26/01/19

IMF warns of major risk to growth from US-EU tensions

London, 19 January (Argus) — The IMF has upgraded its global economic growth forecast for 2026 but warned an escalation in trade tensions between the US and Europe is a "major risk." US president Donald Trump on 17 January threatened tariffs on several European countries in a bid to acquire the Danish territory of Greenland. This has raised concerns about a potential trade war between Europe and the US. "If we were to enter a phase in which there would be escalation and tit-for-tat policies… that would certainly have even more of an adverse effect on the economy, both through direct channels, but also through confidence, investment, and potentially through a repricing by [financial] markets," IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said at the launch of the IMF's World Economic Outlook Update (WEO) today. The IMF raised its global growth forecast for 2026 by 0.2 percentage points to 3.3pc, citing improvements in the US and China, and kept its projection for 2027 unchanged at 3.2pc. It puts 2025 economic growth at 3.3pc, from a previous 3.2pc. IMF forecasts are used by many economists to model oil demand projections. The IMF has repeatedly upgraded its growth projections since April 2025 and now sees 2025 and 2026 growth higher than when US-led tariff disruptions started in early 2025. The outlook's economic assumptions are current as of 31 December so do not take into account the US' latest tariff threat against European countries. It assumes an effective tariff rate of 18.5pc for US imports from the rest of the world. Any change to this would be a major risk," Gourinchas said. "This is something that could materially impact growth if we have higher levels of tariffs, if we have higher levels of geopolitical tension." The IMF said the US-led investment boom in AI and strong fiscal stimulus in China and Germany was offsetting economic losses associated with higher tariffs. But Gourinchas warned that debt financing in the AI sector was becoming more prevalent, and this could "amplify shocks if returns failed to materialise." He said any correction in AI stock market valuations would have far reaching negative effects or the global economy. The IMF said fiscal discipline is weakening across the globe, particularly in advanced economies. "The risk here [is] that countries will be unable to face the significant challenges ahead in terms of population aging, climate transition, national security or ability to support the economy, should a large shock occur," Gourinchas said. By Aydin Calik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Vietnam's coal imports hit record high in 2025

26/01/19

Vietnam's coal imports hit record high in 2025

Singapore, 19 January (Argus) — Vietnam's coal imports reached a new all-time high in 2025, supported by an uptick in economic growth, but a sharp slowdown in demand in the second half of the year capped overall growth. Imports of all types of coal reached 3.62mn t in December 2025, sending the total for the full year to 65.43mn t, according to Vietnamese preliminary customs data. The year's imports surpassed the previous all time high of 63.82mn t in 2024. Vietnamese customs data do not differentiate between coking and thermal coal. Overall coal imports were at 4.49mn t in December, data analytics firm Kpler show, with thermal coal accounting for about 69pc of the volume at 3.1mn t. The imports could have grown more in 2025, but an extended spell of seasonal rains boosted hydropower output, reducing reliance on coal-fired generation and dampening demand for seaborne thermal coal. Receipts slipped for the second straight month in December, declining by 34pc from a year earlier and by 5.2pc from November's 3.82mn t , the data show. The annual growth in imports on 2025 followed a steady uptick in economic activity. Vietnam led southeast Asian imported coal demand growth, powered by an 8.02pc expansion in its GDP in 2025 compared with 2024. The economy expanded by 8.5pc in October-December from a year earlier, logging four straight quarters of growth. Its industrial production grew for the second straight month in December at 10.1pc from a year earlier, underscoring increase in industrial coal as well as power consumption. The rise in Vietnamese imports in 2025 also came as international coal prices remained soft, supporting buying decisions by utilities and consumers users in an oversupplied coal market. Argus assessed the widely traded GAR 4,200 kcal/kg coal for Supramax vessels at $44.99/t fob Kalimantan on 24 December 2025 — the last assessment of the year. This was down by 71pc from its all-time high of $154.21/t in October 2021 and 9.9pc from a year earlier. Prices hit a more than four-year low of $39.40/t in June 2025 and have since hovered in a narrow range that some producers said barely covers costs. Imports could continue to rise this year given that Vietnam targets an economic growth rate of at least 10pc in 2026, which could mean higher power demand. A number of coal-fired utilities are slated to come on line to support the country's growth ambitions, which could also raise imports by utilities. Vietnam's generation capacity increased by 6.4GW in 2025 to 87.6GW from a year earlier. Electricity production and power imports reached 322.8TWh in 2025, up by 4.6pc from a year earlier, but the pace of growth has moderated from 2024. The government has a base case of overall generation reaching around 350TWh in 2026, which could support demand for coal from countries including Indonesia and Australia. Indonesian coal accounted for the bulk of Vietnam's imports in December at 2.36mn t, but down from 2.83mn t a year earlier. Imports from Australia slipped to 1.25mn t, down from 1.56mnt t a year earlier. By Saurabh Chaturvedi Vietnam's coal imports (mn t) Vietnam's power generation (TWh) Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

India posts first coal power output fall in 5 years

26/01/15

India posts first coal power output fall in 5 years

Singapore, 15 January (Argus) — India's coal-fired generation dropped for the first time in five years in 2025, underscoring a structural shift in the country's electricity mix that is reverberating across global coal markets. The country's coal-power generation declined by 3.4pc on the year to 1,247TWh in 2025, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority of India. This is the first decline since 2020, when coal-power output fell by 5pc to 914.74TWh from a year earlier, and is the second drop in at least half a century, according to think tank CREA. The coal power data does not include lignite-fired generation, which fell by 9.7pc to 31.32TWh in 2025. The decline comes as power output from hydro, renewable and nuclear energy rose to cater for an increase in power demand in 2025, highlighting the evolution of the country's generation mix as India aims to provide round the clock electricity to all households and industries and fuel its economic growth. The trend also underscores the weakness in coal consumption at utilities, one of the largest consumers of domestic and imported coal, impacting India's overall plans to boost local coal output. The country, one of the world's largest coal producers and the second-largest importer after China, produced 1.04bn t of coal in 2025, little changed from a year earlier, while supplies to utilities fell by 1.8pc from a year earlier to 816.25mn t, according to data from India's coal ministry. India pegs coal demand to rise to 1.5bn t/yr by 2030, although the drop in coal burn at power plants could prompt a review of the estimates given that non-coal generation capacity has dwarfed that of coal and overall coal supplies from the largest coal producer state-owned Coal India has fallen steadily. Imports have also declined largely been due to weak demand because the country is currently grappling with high domestic coal inventories. India imported 160.32mn t of thermal coal in 2025, down by 2.2pc from a year earlier, data from analytics firm Kpler show, marking the second straight year of declines. Seaborne coal suppliers are recalibrating their sales strategies because domestic surplus has weighed on demand from China and India, while Indonesia — the world's largest coal exporter — is undertaking policy tweaks to tighten supplies . "Uncertainty over supply and demand is dominating the market right now," said a Singapore-based coal trader. "No one knows when balance will return." The weak fundamentals have weighed on the market. Argus assessed the widely traded GAR 4,200 kcal/kg coal for Supramax vessels at $44.99/t fob Kalimantan on 24 December 2025 — the last assessment of the year. This was down by 71pc from its all-time high of $154.21/t in October 2021. Prices hit a more than four-year low of $39.40/t in June 2025 and have since hovered in a narrow range that some producers said barely covers costs. The slowdown in demand is weighing on overall seaborne market dynamics. India is sitting on a huge pile of domestic coal, partly denting the demand fundamentals for the seaborne market. Sellers of Indonesian coal, which accounts for bulk of Indian imports, also said competition is heating up in growth centres of southeast Asia because suppliers from all origins are exploring alternative markets. Indonesian supplies to southeast Asia likely surpassed exports volume to India for the second straight year in 2025, underscoring the changing trade flows. The restart of an imported coal-fired power plant on India's west coast could support the recovery in India's demand for seaborne coal, another trader said, but overall power sector demand remains subdued and similar utilities that run on seaborne coal are exploring the possibility of raising the share of domestic coal in their blend. Some suppliers are focusing on tenders and enquiries from industrial coal consumers, expecting demand from industries such as cement and steel to continue in line with economic growth. Generation mix Generation from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and smaller hydroelectric projects rose in 2025, and output from large hydropower projects as well as nuclear power plants also increased. The prolonged monsoon period last year supported an increase in hydropower generation and also capped power demand for cooling. Renewable energy generation rose by 22pc from a year earlier to 270TWh in 2025, CREA said in its latest report, while overall generation from all sources rose by 1pc on the year to 1,844TWh. The pace of growth in overall generation has moderated over the last few years. Generation rose by 11pc and 6pc on the year in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Coal-power has declined but it still accounts for about 70pc of India's generation mix, and India would continue to be a dominant consumer of domestic as well as imported coal, market participants said. "Coal will remain an indispensable pillar of India's energy security, along with steady advances in its clean energy transition," the coal ministry said. Coal provides reliable baseload power and supports critical industries, and plays a vital role in sustained economic growth, it added. But the country may not require excess coal-fired capacity if it hits its target of more than doubling the renewable power generation capacity to 500GW by 2030, CREA said. "India's power-sector challenge is no longer one of capacity adequacy, but of system flexibility," Manoj Kumar, analyst at CREA, said, adding that an increase in generation from non-coal sources could lead to lower utilisation of coal-power plants while also raising the risk of stressing thermal assets. By Saurabh Chaturvedi India's generation mix (TWh) Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Viewpoint: Coal plant extensions not always easy

26/01/14

Viewpoint: Coal plant extensions not always easy

Houston, 14 January (Argus) — US generators are starting this year with more coal-fired power plants open than previously planned, following a series of US Department of Energy (DOE) emergency orders, but maintaining generation from these facilities might not be easy. Since late May, US energy secretary Chris Wright has signed orders to keep at least parts of five coal plants running beyond their planned 2025 retirement dates. These facilities have a combined generating capacity of 2,128MW. Wright also has indicated he may continue issuing such orders to address near-term reliability issues and potential energy supply shortages in the next few years. While some power plant operators may welcome the orders, others are more reticent. "I think the executive orders make for lots of questions in our current environment," one market participant said. "As with anything, there are lots of legal challenges that will arise, and it all could change again in a few years" under a new administration. The nature of the orders also raises logistical concerns that some power plant operators warned could affect their ability to comply. Last year, Wright issued the orders shortly before the facilities were scheduled to close. That kind of timetable can be challenging for plant operators who typically have spent months winding down fuel orders and making other preparations to permanently close a facility. The orders also have 90-day limits that can be extended, and Wright has not shied away from renewing directives to keep plants operating. Several coal plants that were either scheduled to close recently or are slated to be retired in the near future have not received adequate maintenance and upgrades in the last few years that would allow them to keep running sustainably long-term, one operator told Argus . That suggests operators could face higher rates of unexpected coal unit outages this year or more frequent planned outages as companies catch up on maintenance. For example, unit 1 of the Craig Station coal plant in Colorado, the most recent unit ordered to stay on line for another 90 days, has been out of service since 19 December, following a mechanical failure of a valve. The plant will need repairs and additional investments to continue running into 2026, Tri-State Generation & Transmission — one of the co-owners of the plant — said on 31 December. Some of the utilities that have received emergency orders to keep coal plants open also warned that delaying the facilities' closures could interfere with previous energy transition plans and investments. But Indiana utility NiSource, which received an order to keep its RM Schahfer coal plant on line until at least 23 March 2026, said "our long-term plan to transition to a more sustainable energy future remains unchanged". Other utilities also remain committed to transitioning from coal-fired generation. One operator said the recent emergency orders have merely put the coal industry on "life-support", rather than providing a substantial lifeline beyond the next few years. Many other coal market participants asserted that DOE's orders only require the plants to remain available during their extension periods and, at least so far, have not specified a minimum capacity factor at which they must run. Most of the plants operating in compliance with the emergency orders may just run as peaker plants, only operating at maximum capacity during extreme periods of generation demand. Still, the prospect of keeping the facilities open for an unknown period of time can be a challenge for planning fuel purchases. While some plants that received a DOE order still have a small quantity of coal stockpiled on site, those volumes will only sustain a few more weeks of coal burn, necessitating additional shipments. Other utilities are faced with buying more coal and deciding whether to purchase enough for just the extent of existing orders or to enter into longer-term agreements. Some operators have already opted into multi-year deals because they expect DOE's emergency orders on their plants will keep getting renewed well into the back half of this decade. Many utilities, especially by the end of 2025, found pricing in longer-term purchases to be more stable and economical because constrained supply in most US basins had prompted producers to offer spot coal at higher prices. Tight US coal supply also has led producers to be less willing to agree to options in newer coal contracts that would allow buyers to opt out of taking all of their volume commitments. Because of this, some utilities that have received orders from DOE have limited their additional coal purchases to deliveries only in 2026. Some utilities also said that they can not justify issuing longer-term requests for proposals to state regulators and ratepayers, since the DOE orders are only issued for 90 days. The US House of Representatives in mid-December passed a bill that aims to address some utility concerns. The Power Plant Reliability Act of 2025 would authorize the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to require an owner or operator to continue running a power plant for up to five more years if the commission finds that its closure could threaten grid reliability. The bill would protect plant operators from penalties for potentially violating state or federal environmental laws while FERC's order is in place. And it would authorize FERC to renew an order by another five years if requested by a transmission organizer, state commission or public utility. The US Senate has not yet scheduled any action on the bill. And even if the measure is enacted, it will only address some of the uncertainties power plant operators face. By Anna Harmon Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Vietnam seeks to accelerate nuclear power plans

Nuclear project

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