Looking back at 2020 – The attraction from rooftop solar power market
With the real socio-economic value benefits, the demand for investment in renewable energy is still growing strongly and receives the attention from not only enterprises, the government but also banks.
According to EVN’s data, as of December 31, 2020 – there had been 101,029 rooftop solar power projects connected to the system with a total capacity up to 9296 MWp. This number increases very rapidly when Decision 13 on the mechanism to encourage solar power in Vietnam is about to expire. Investors and enterprises have taken advantage of installation to enjoy preferential prices for rooftop solar power.
Up to now, our country has reached total capacity up to approximately 19,4000 MWp, accounting for about 25% of the total installed capacity of the national power system. Electricity output from solar power in 2020 will be 10.6 billion kWh in general and 1.15 billion kWh of rooftop solar power in particular.
Despite the challenges such as the overloaded national grid, the relatively urgent time for the preferential application in Decision 13 and the complicated epidemic of covid19, solar power still flourishes thanks to the promotion mechanism, making Vietnam rise to become a bright spot to attract both worldwide and regional investment in solar energy.
An important reason for this is the profitability of investing in renewable energy, in particular rooftop solar power. In Vietnam alone, the first profit one can get from solar investment is the cost the Investor could save when using electricity from the rooftop solar power system instead of the traditional power source, not to mention the income from the excess power returned to the grid and bought by EVN.
Rooftop solar power continues to receive more support to approach enterprises
With the active support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the mechanisms for rooftop solar power installation, operation and purchase are becoming clearer and more convenient for enterprises. Typically, the document No. 7088/BCT-DL dated September 22, 2020, sent by the Ministry of Industry and Trade to the People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces and the Vietnam Electricity Group on guiding the implementation of solar power development. The roof states “Each rooftop solar power system has a separate power purchase agreement and is exempt from the power operation license”.
Although EVNSPC has completed its rooftop solar power development target by 2020, the local EVNs still regularly coordinate with rooftop solar power system suppliers to open rooftop solar power workshops. This is to encourage enterprises to approach investment solution packages as well as promptly answer questions related to the system’s installation and operation mechanism.
Along with rooftop solar promotion activities from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and EVN, many banks have also participated in the renewable energy market with green credit packages, loans to install rooftop solar power systems with guaranteed assets from loans.
With a series of incentives applied to solar power at that time, it can be said that the second half of 2020 is considered the strongest boom period of Vietnam’s energy market.
Source: Compiled
