Japanese renewable energy developer Erex plans will conduct its third test run of coal and biomass co-firing operations at a Vietnamese power plant in September, the company said today.
Erex plans to start the trial combustion in late September at the 30MW Nong Son thermal power plant in the central region of Vietnam, which is held by state-owned company Vietnam National Coal and Mineral Industries (Vinacomin). The company aims to achieve co-firing rate of 10pc on wood chips and 30pc on wood pellets with coal. The test run is expected to last for one month.
Erex has successfully completed trial combustions of coal and biomass co-firing operations at two other Vinacomin plants, burning up to 20pc of wood chips at the 110MW Na Duong plant and up to 30pc of wood pellets at the 115MW Cao Ngan plant. The company also plans to conduct a co-firing test run at the 670MW Cam Pha thermal coal plant around 2027-28.
Erex and Vinacomin are expected to renovate Na Duong and Cao Ngan in 2026-27 and start commercial co-firing operations around 2027-28. The companies aim to conduct co-firing operations at six of Vinacomin's thermal coal plants in Vietnam in future, with a total capacity of 1,585MW.
The co-firing projects underscore Vietnam's net-zero strategy. The country currently relies on coal to meet around one-third of its electricity demand, with power consumption increasing by 10 pc/yr. Vietnam has looked to biomass fuels as self-sufficient renewable energy sources.
Meanwhile, Erex is eyeing carbon credits from the co-firing projects and is in negotiation with the Vietnamese government on this. The company is considering selling some of the carbon credits to other firms in Japan, after commercial co-firing operations begin in Vietnam.
