TEPCO Acquire Stake in Coc San Hydro Plant Vietnam

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc (TYO:9501), or TEPCO, announced today that it has acquired a minority stake in the 29.7-MW Coc San hydropower plant (HPP) in Vietnam.

TEPCO said in a statement it has bought 36.38% of the shares in Singapore-based Viet Hydro Pte Ltd, which is the majority owner of the company that operates the plant, namely Lao Cai Renewable Energy JSC (LCRE).

Separately, InfraCo Asia Development Pte Ltd, a company of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), confirmed it has sold its interest in Viet Hydro to TEPCO, noting that through that stake the company indirectly held 33.4% of the Coc San HPP in Lao Cai province.

The purchase serves TEPCO’s strategy to turn renewable energy into one of its primary energy sources, thus pursuing the development of hydropower overseas and offshore wind power in both Japan and overseas. The company aims to eventually reach a total hydropower capacity of 2 GW-3 GW.

Operational as of April 2016, the Coc San plant sells its output under a 20-year contract with Northern Power Corporation, a power distributing subsidiary of Vietnam Electricity. Coc San, which generates over 120 GWh per year, will continue to be run by LCRE.

This is TEPCO’s first hydropower project outside Japan, it said, adding that it will be exploring opportunities to participate in other such projects, mainly in Southeast Asia, and developing its overseas business