Roof solar power system at the administrative building of Phu My Thermal Power Company (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Solar experts have raised difficulties andproblems in policies and procedures for investment, installation and operationof solar power systems in Vietnam at a seminar.
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) coordinated with the GreenInnovation Development Center (GreenID) in an online seminar on the topic ofsolar-power roofs at industrial parks on August 30 to find solutions forremoving inadequacies in installation deployment.
Mai Van Trung, deputy general director in charge of project development at NamiSolar Company, said many businesses in the industrial park had to use cleanenergy to take advantage of their exports as well as finding potentialimporters, who require clean energy.
However, some localities had an inconsistent understanding and had not yetallowed the installation of rooftop solar power without an assessment of thewhole area's environmental impact report, said Trung.
The barriers made it difficult for exporters and hindered businesses fromreceiving the benefits that rooftop solar power can bring, Trung added.
Pham Trong Quy Chau, standing deputy head of the Renewable Energy Department,and a member of the Association of Industrial Park Enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City(HBA) said that in June 2020, HBA officially launched a development programmeof solar roofs in export processing zones, industrial parks, and high-techparks in the city.
Chau said by the end of 2020, a total of 118 projects had been invested andinstalled with a total capacity of over 76 MWp; in which there are largeprojects over 8 MWp installed on the roof of the same factory, and that somebusinesses had even boldly invested up to nearly 15 MWp on the roof of thewarehouse system in four different industrial parks over the whole city.
Chau said the installation of solar power in the industrial park would helpreduce the cost of electricity in proportion to the generated electricitysupplied to the industrial park.
A representative of VNG Joint Stock Company said by the end of September 2019,the enterprise had completed the installation of a solar power system installedon the roof of a building with a design capacity of hundreds of kWp and put itinto use in October 2019.
The representative said in the first year of operation, the output was 859,039kWh, meeting about 20 percent of the electricity demand for the building,helping to reduce costs equivalent to about 1.5 billion VND.
However, like Trung from Nami Solar Company, VNG's representative was concernedabout difficulties and obstacles because policies and procedures had not keptpace with the explosive growth of the rooftop solar power market.
Chau told the seminar: “Policies on energy are making investors quite worried.Up to now, nine months since the FIT2 supporting electricity tariff policy hasexpired, most rooftop solar power systems have operated stably, butdifficulties and obstacles still exist and need to be further recommended, consideredand resolved by the relevant ministries.”
Chau also said that as the Government had not yet issued the decision of FIT 3stipulating the new purchase price of electricity from the rooftop solar powersystem, which was a difficulty for businesses.
In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and Vietnam Electricity(EVN) had not yet issued further instructions on the procedures for applyingfor and approving the connection, electricity purchase and sale contracts, andpayment for electricity purchased from solar power systems.
Therefore, HBA’s representative asked EVN to have a reasonable and optimalsolution for the purchase of electricity from the rooftop solar power system.
Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of the business department at EVN, told the seminar thatas the Government did not have a policy to buy electricity with rooftop solarpower projects used for industrial parks, the corporation did not know how topay.
Dung said EVN saw the demand of connecting the national grid to industrial parks’systems. However, he mentioned that with the current low capacity, suchtransmission would endanger the security of the power grid.
Dung said the corporation was still waiting for instructions for the work,adding that EVN was always open and transparent with investors and was ready tosupport investors.
Demand for energy and the pressure on the energy security in Vietnam are high,and the development of clean renewable energy is important in solving thecurrent energy mix and improving competition for businesses.
Troubleshooting
Pham Nguyen Hung, deputy director of the MoIT Department of Electricity andRenewable Energy, told the seminar the ministry was developing a draftframework to develop renewable energy electricity, including ground solarpower, rooftop solar power and floating solar power.
Hung said the draft would be built with no capacity limit for most clean energysources. However rooftop solar power would have a self-consumption rate as itdid not need to invest in more power grids for transmission to avoid power lossaccording to the distributed characteristics of the system.
Hung said the draft would also build flexible electricity prices based on theannual electricity generation price bracket set by the MoIT./.
VNA
