Vinh Tan 2 power plant pollutes air again

The pollution at this power station made headlines months ago as local residents around the facility protested against the dumping of coal ash from the plant that is heavily polluting nearby households.

In a document sent to relevant agencies on July 14, Binh Thuan Province’s chairman Le Tien Phuong said the provincial authorities had reported to the Government the environmental pollution caused again by Vinh Tan 2 in Tuy Phong District.

The province also required Power Generation Corporation 3 (GENCO 3) to work with Vinh Tan 2 on solutions to fully solve dust pollution caused by coal ash from the plant in recent days, including a temporary halt to Generator No.2.

Phuong told the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment to cooperate with other departments and Tuy Phong authorities to inspect, supervise and regularly assess pollution levels when Generator No.2 works to have effective solutions to the problem in accordance with prevailing regulations.

Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) picked China’s Shanghai Electric Group as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for Vinh Tan 2. The plant has been online for nearly one year with two generators having a combined annual generation capacity of 1,244 megawatts.

Air pollution caused by coal ash from the plant has hit around 1,370 households in nearby areas. Consequently, a large number of people in Vinh Tan Commune gathered on the National Highway section at the project site in mid-April to protest against the dust pollution.

Many people living near the plant claimed they have developed respiratory diseases since the plant came into operation, according to the authority of Tuy Phong District.

Currently, coal-fired power plants nationwide consume roughly 20 million tons of coal per year and discharge a total of three million tons of ash, most of it buried within their premises or transported to other places instead of being recycled.