Vietnam Electricity began building a 28.5 trillion-dong ($1.37 billion) coal-fired electricity plant in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh as the country seeks to reduce its dependence on hydropower.

The Duyen Hai 3 power station will have a capacity of 1,244 megawatts, with annual projected output of about 7.8 billion kilowatt-hours, the government said on its website. The plant will use about 3.6 million metric tons of domestic coal a year.

Vietnam is seeking to curb reliance on hydropower to avoid shortages during the dry season. By building coal-fired capacity it can take advantage of reserves that have made it Southeast Asia’s biggest coal-producing nation after Indonesia. Vietnam’s coal output has more than tripled since 2001, BP Plc data show.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Jason Folkmanis in Ho Chi Minh City at folkmanis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dick Schumacher at dschumacher@bloomberg.net