Vietnam Power Company will provide the most powerful support for rooftop solar investors

(PV-Tech News) On June 11, 2020, at a meeting held with several power companies, Mr. Tran Dinh Nhan, General Manager of the Vietnam Electric Power Company (EVN) affirmed that EVN "provides the most powerful support conditions and encourages investors "Develop rooftop solar power system (RSPS)" approach.

Tran Dinh Nhan believes that we must concentrate on solving difficulties, removing obstacles, and promoting the development of RSPS. EVN will create favorable conditions to develop solar projects that are suitable for the power generation capacity of the grid in an appropriate and efficient manner.

Nhan asked EVN professional committees and power companies to study the discharge capacity of local power grids, and put forward technical guidelines and standards for investors to use when considering the investment location, investment scale, and choosing the appropriate technology.

The EVN Professional Committee also needs to issue specific guidelines for the development of RSPS to power companies. EVN needs to adopt a clear, open and transparent way of working. In the process of contacting customers, employees of power companies must adopt a dialectical attitude, listen to customers' opinions, and support customers in developing RSPS.

According to the report of the EVN Professional Committee, as of June 7, 2020, there were more than 31,100 rooftop solar power generation systems in Vietnam, with a total installed capacity of more than 640MWp and a power generation of more than 145 million kWh. The total amount paid by EVN to customers reached 300 billion VND .

In the process of developing RSPS, some problems also appeared. Some provinces and cities have some solar power generation projects with an installed capacity of less than 1MW and merged into the ≤35kV grid. Such grids include photovoltaic modules (without roof) installed on the ground-mounted rack system; there are also some such projects. Into a power grid ≤35kV, in this kind of power grid, a small part of the solar modules are installed on the roof, and most of the remaining photovoltaic modules are installed on the ground.

In addition, there is a case where solar modules are installed on the roof of workshops and warehouses in industrial parks, and customers sell electricity to EVN through 110kV substations.

According to the provisions of Article 3, paragraphs 5 and 6 of Decision 13/2020/QD-TTg, the above-mentioned project is called a grid-connected solar power system, not a rooftop solar power system.

At the same time, according to the provisions of Article 5, paragraphs 1, 3, and 4 of the decision, only grid-connected projects whose investment policies have been determined by the competent department before November 23, 2019, or have been included in the power development planning at all levels and the date of commercial operation Only grid-connected projects from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020 can apply for grid-connected solar power prices according to Decision No. 13/2020/QD-TTg, and the prices of other grid-connected solar projects should go through the competition mechanism determine. Therefore, for the above-mentioned solar power generation projects with an installed capacity of less than 1MW, the electricity price has not yet been determined.

EVN requires the Ministry of Industry and Trade to treat the above 1MW solar power generation projects as rooftop solar power generation systems, thereby encouraging investors with various economic backgrounds to invest in the development of solar power generation projects.

In addition, many RSPS investors who signed a power purchase agreement with EVN before June 30, 2019 have a need to increase project capacity. It is difficult to define the EVN power purchase price of these projects.

In order to ensure the correct implementation of the solar power purchase prices stipulated in the Prime Minister’s resolution, the EVN requires the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to allow the EVN to implement power purchase prices for grid-connected power generation based on the installed capacity ratio around June 30, 2019.

At the same time, the additional sanctions for RSPS investors to increase project capacity without notifying EVN are: Investors will be punished for breach of contract and will need to refund the overpayments made by EVN, and the contract will be unilaterally terminated.