Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), the country’s sole power distributor, has announced to buy rooftop solar power from its customers in case they don’t use up the volume their solar panels produce.
A rooftop solar panel system. Photo: Livemint
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The sellers will be both private households and organizations who are buying electricity directly from EVN.
The move aims to boost the development of renewable energy, mostly solar power in the context that Vietnam is tapping maximum capacity of fossil energy.
Local experts said that the installation of rooftop solar panels would enable owners to reduce electricity bills, ease the national power supply, protect environment, and boost climate resilience.
EVN would conduct examination and connect to the grid for rooftop solar panel systems.
Since 2017, EVN has launched a series of projects on installing rooftop solar panel systems. As of July 2018, more than 748 projects with total capacity of 11.55 MWp would become operational, saving millions of dollar.
New moves for solar energy
The central government has made a series of policies to encourage the development of solar power, mostly the price list which is higher than other kinds of energy.
Under Decision 11/2017/QD-TTg dated April 11, 2017 on encouraging mechanism of solar power projects in Vietnam, projects connected to the national grid from June 1, 2017 to June 30, 2019 would be eligible to sell to EVN at VND2,086 (9.35 US cent/kWh) excluding value added tax (VAT) and adjustable to the Vietnam dong-US dollar exchange rate.
At the end of 2018, the number of solar power projects reached 121 with total capacity of 6,100MW added to the national power master plan by 2020, compared to 850MW by 2020 approved earlier by the prime minister. The targeted capacity by 2030 would reach 12,000MW, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).
Localities having great potential of solar power include the central provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, and the southern provinces of Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Long An, and Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
Ninh Thuan has average solar irradiance (the power per unit area: watt per square meter – W/m2) of 1,800 kWh/m2/year, according to Meteonorm – a widely used and accepted solar radiation data source in the solar energy industry.
