Provincial Party Secretary visits and works with leaders of Marubeni Group

During the working trip to Japan, on the morning of December 18, comrades: Ngo Dong Hai, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Lai Van Hoan, member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and members of the provincial working delegation visited and worked with the leaders of Marubeni Group. Also joining the working delegation were leaders of T&T Vietnam Group.

Comrade Ngo Dong Hai, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, and members of the provincial delegation worked with leaders of Marubeni Group.

Receiving and working with the delegation were Mr. Yuji Sato, Senior Executive Director, Global Power Division; Mr. Yutaro Yamazaki, Director of Southeast Asia Representative Office; Mr. Akinori Morita, Director of Offshore Wind Power and Domestic Renewable Energy Division; Mr. Yudai Kato, General Director of Marubeni Asian Power Vietnam.

Marubeni Group leaders received and worked with the delegation.

Marubeni is one of the largest multi-industry trading and investment corporations in Japan, founded in 1858 with more than 160 years of history. The group has branch offices and business operations in more than 68 countries across North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Marubeni has total assets of more than 60 billion USD and annual profits of about 2 billion USD. Marubeni manufactures, invests and provides services in many fields such as: textiles; information technology; metals and minerals; energy; aerospace and ships; finance, real estate; construction, industrial machinery... In the energy sector, Marubeni is one of the world's leading corporations with extensive experience in developing, constructing and operating power projects. Marubeni's total gross power generation capacity worldwide is 36,534MW, of which Marubeni's net capacity is 11,560MW (as of the end of March 2023).

In Vietnam, Marubeni has participated in the EPC general contractor for 11 projects including Thai Binh 1 Thermal Power Plant (600MW) and invested in the following projects: BOT Nghi Son 2 (1,200MW) which has been put into commercial operation since 2022; O Mon 2 gas-fired power project (1,050MW) which has been granted an investment certificate and is negotiating gas/electricity purchase contracts with PVN and EVN; Quang Ninh LNG gas-fired power project (1,500MW) which has been granted an investment certificate and is submitting a feasibility study report for approval by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In the renewable energy sector, Marubeni has invested in the development of more than 2,000MW of onshore and offshore wind power in many countries. Marubeni is one of the first offshore wind power developers in Japan with projects in Fukushima, Akita Port and Noshiro Port - this is the largest scale project in Japan that has been in commercial operation since January 2023. In the UK, Marubeni has invested in two offshore wind power projects, Gunfleet Sands (2010) and Westermost Rough (2015). In January 2022, Marubeni won the bid to lease the sea for the survey and development of the Scotwind offshore wind power project in the eastern sea of Scotland, this is the world's largest scale project with a capacity of 3,600MW. In addition, Marubeni has been approved to survey two offshore wind power projects in the Philippines, the 600MW Ilocos Norte Offshore and the 500MW Malay Offshore.

On behalf of Marubeni Corporation, Mr. Yuji Sato, Senior Executive Director, Global Power Division expressed his pleasure to welcome Comrade Ngo Dong Hai, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and members of the delegation of Thai Binh province, leaders of T&T Vietnam Group to visit and work at the Group; at the same time, he sincerely thanked the leaders of the province and departments and branches of Thai Binh province for supporting the Group in implementing the Thai Binh 1 Thermal Power Plant project, invested by EVN, which was completed on schedule and put into commercial operation in 2018.

Mr. Yuji Sato hopes to continue to contribute more to the stable supply of electricity to the North of Vietnam as well as the socio-economic development of Thai Binh province. Marubeni Corporation and T&T Vietnam Corporation signed an agreement on offshore wind power development in Thai Binh province and had the opportunity to present a report to the leaders of Thai Binh province, and received many valuable advices to continue developing the project.

Mr. Yuji Sato affirmed that in the coming time, he will continue to implement the project and hopes to receive support and assistance from provincial leaders and departments to realize the project.

Comrade Ngo Dong Hai, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, presented souvenirs to the leaders of Marubeni Group.

Speaking at the meeting, Comrade Ngo Dong Hai, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, sincerely thanked the leaders of Marubeni Group for their welcome to the provincial delegation; at the same time, he said that Vietnamese leaders, functional agencies and localities of Vietnam always highly appreciate Marubeni Group with more than 30 years of investment and business in Vietnam with many high-quality and effective projects. Especially in the field of electricity supply, Marubeni is one of the very successful Japanese corporations in Vietnam and highly appreciated Marubeni's participation in the general contractor of Thai Binh 1 Thermal Power Plant. Currently, the plant is operating very stably and effectively, providing stable electricity to the national grid, while making a great contribution to the budget revenue and economy of Thai Binh province.

The Provincial Party Secretary highly appreciated the experience and capacity of Marubeni Group in the field of offshore wind power. He said that T&T Vietnam Group was very wise in deciding to cooperate with Marubeni Group, especially in the field of renewable energy. In Vietnam, T&T Group is a leading multi-industry, multi-field economic group that has recently started investing in the field of electric power in Vietnam and has initially been highly appreciated in this field. Accordingly, the combination of the two groups will certainly promote the strengths of both in all fields, especially in the construction of electricity and renewable energy projects, and Thai Binh is ready to support the joint venture between the two groups in the conditions and capabilities of the province with the highest efforts and attempts.

Regarding the construction of offshore wind power projects in Thai Binh province, the province has conducted a process of research and proposal to the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Government. Independent research shows that the province has great potential for nearshore and offshore wind power, with offshore wind flow as good as that of the southern provinces of Vietnam with an average wind speed of about 8-10m/s. In previous years, the policies and legal corridors for offshore wind power investment in Vietnam were not clear, so the province only focused on surveying, giving policies and calling for investment in onshore and nearshore wind power projects. In addition, the province actively proposed to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to submit to the Government a plan to build offshore wind power projects in the Pacific sea, which was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to submit to the Government and was included in Vietnam's Electricity Plan VIII. On that basis, T&T Group directly worked with the province and had ideas and proposals for offshore wind power projects. The province has given many directions to soon realize the project and at the same time have long-term orientation.

The Provincial Party Secretary acknowledged the proactive cooperation of T&T Group with Marubeni Group - a very capable and potential corporation in the field of offshore wind power. This is one of the bases for considering the proposal of offshore wind power projects in Thai Binh province.

Comrade Ngo Dong Hai, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and members of the delegation took a souvenir photo with leaders of Marubeni Group.

The Provincial Party Secretary supported the joint venture between the two groups, and said: Thai Binh has a 54km long coastline in the two districts of Thai Thuy and Tien Hai, which has been approved by the Prime Minister as an Economic Zone - a comprehensive development area for economy, society, industry, services, trade, urban areas and other fields with the highest preferential policies in Vietnam today. The province is currently researching and submitting to the Prime Minister to adjust the Economic Zone Planning towards expanding towards the sea. For items in the offshore wind power project built onshore, they will also enjoy preferential policies of the Economic Zone. The Prime Minister of Vietnam is assigning ministries and branches to speed up the process of promulgating legal regulations as well as related policies and guidelines; At the same time, the Power Plan VIII also sets a target of 2.5GW of offshore wind power in the North of Vietnam by 2030, so the Ministry of Industry and Trade is currently actively promoting and creating favorable conditions for investors to immediately start researching and implementing the project while waiting for other related legal procedures to be completed and issued. These are favorable conditions for the two groups to jointly realize the idea; therefore, he suggested that the two groups quickly start developing a plan to propose in the near future.

The Provincial Party Secretary also discussed some more contents for the two groups to shape a long-term strategy that is both in line with the orientation of the Vietnamese Government and in line with the development orientation of Thai Binh province in the coming time. In which, he emphasized: The province has been approved by the Government to invest in establishing a thermal power center. Up to now, Thai Binh has had 2 thermal power plants and has just been granted an investment policy for the LNG thermal power plant project. When there is more offshore wind power, it will contribute to realizing the province's energy center, which is very convenient for building a system to receive and transmit energy focused on the national transmission network. In addition, Vietnam is committed to achieving zero net emissions by 2050, so all energy projects must switch to green energy, renewable energy and zero carbon, hoping that Marubeni Group will also have transformation orientations. In addition, if investing in an offshore wind power project on the shore of Thai Binh, there must be a plan to connect with the sources of current thermal power plants plus hydrogen conversion to create a green, stable energy source similar to the base energy to be able to supply industrial facilities in the North of Vietnam. The current orientation of the province is to build a green, zero-carbon economic zone, taking the core of the green energy center including power generation projects to become the source of green energy for the North of Vietnam and the province will invest in auxiliary systems for this green power center to serve as a basis for supplying green, zero-carbon energy for the new economic space expected to expand in the near future.

Dao Quyen

(Synthetic)

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