An Khanh Bac Giang Thermal Power JSC, the owner of the plant, held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for the project in Vu Xa village, Cam Ly commune.

The plant will occupy over 66.4 hectares and is scheduled to begin commercial operations in June 2029 under the latest revised timeline. Bach Dang Construction Corporation is the project's EPC contractor.

Once operational, the facility is expected to generate about 3.9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year for northern Vietnam's power system and the national grid.

Speaking at the ceremony, Pham Van Thinh, Vice Chairman of Bac Ninh People's Committee, said the province is seeking to strengthen its position as a major industrial, urban and services hub in the capital region, with increasing investment in electronics, semiconductors, high technology, and other high-value industries. The industrial expansion is driving a sharp increase in electricity demand.

Vietnam's national peak power load exceeded 52,000 MW at times in 2026, while northern Vietnam's peak demand approached 25,000 MW. In May, peak electricity demand managed by Northern Power Corporation rose 28.5% from a year earlier, while Bac Ninh province's peak load increased 32.1%.

The An Khanh-Bac Giang plant, therefore, is expected to help add firm generation capacity to the northern grid, where rapid industrial growth and the expansion of power-intensive manufacturing are putting increasing pressure on electricity supply.

Bac Ninh and Bac Giang provinces were merged last year to form the current Bac Ninh. The province, a neighbor of Hanoi, is positioning itself as an industrial hub in northern Vietnam. It is home to the under-construction Gia Binh airport and a host of foreign-invested tech players, especially Samsung.

According to local authorities, Bac Ninh attracted over $2.73 billion in foreign investment in the first seven months of this year, ranking fourth nationwide in FDI attraction. Of the figure, over $1 billion was newly registered capital across 210 projects.

FDI inflows focus on manufacturing and processing industries, including electronics components, semiconductors, and high-tech products.