A consortium of ACWA Power and Taekwang Power Holdings has signed a $2.2 billion thermal power plant investment agreement with Vietnam. The pact comes as Vietnam faces a shortage in power supply amid the developing country's ever-increasing demand for electricity to fuel economic expansion, which hit a five-year high of 6.7% in 2015. The 1,200-megawatt Nam Dinh 1 thermal power plant will be built on a build-operate-transfer basis for 25 years in the northern province of Nam Dinh.

The project is scheduled to start in mid-2016 after eight years of negotiations and will use coal provided by state coal mining group Vinacomin.