The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam (MOIT) recently issued new Circular No. 18 replacing Circular No. 16 and drafted detailed guidelines on the development of solar power projects in Vietnam.
This followed the Prime Minister’s Decision on the new FiTs for solar power. It will come into effect from 31-08- 2020 and Developers will follow the new guidelines on the development of grid-connected solar power farms and rooftop solar systems.
Besides, it also introduces a new model of power purchase agreements for grid-connected solar farms and another for grid-connected rooftop solar systems, clarifying and updating previous Model PPAs.
Some changes are as follow:
Updated development guidelines states that the basic design application dossier of a solar power project must be in compliance with the current regulations and requirements arising from the location specifications, irradiance potential of the solar project, The impact assessment of the interconnection plan on safety and stable operation of the electricity systems in the local area and The designs and connection to SCADA systems or dispatch information.
Requirements for the development of solar rooftop systems under the clause are the power seller must register with the power purchaser (EVN) with regard to certain information, including the installation location, capacity scale, electrical lines, and proposed grid connection point, The power seller and EVN will then enter into an interconnection agreement, The power seller is required to send an application for selling electricity from the rooftop solar power system which includes a written request for electricity sale; technical documents on solar PV panels and DC-to-AC inverters etc.
Under Model PPA for solar farms MOIT scrapped the offtake obligation of Vietnam Electricity (EVN), as the state-owned utility and power purchaser, to purchase the entire power output generated from solar power projects.
Recently we have reported that demand for rooftop solar power is rising in Vietnam.
As of early June 2020, there have been more than 31,100 RSP systems across the country, with a total installed capacity of more than 640MWp, a net output of more than 145 million kWh, the total cost amount of power paid to customers by EVN is more than VND 300 billion.
The development criteria of RSP are mainly encouraged by the direction that customers are self-consuming, creating local power supply, contributing to ensuring power supply when Vietnam’s electricity system has no backup source.
