Vietnam’s solar potential to reach hundreds of GW in near future

Vietnam's solar potential will hit hundreds GW in the future

This statement was shared yesterday with over 100 representatives from local authorities, investors, and other stakeholders at the workshop titled “National assessment of development potential of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Vietnam until 2020, with vision to 2030.”

The workshop was organised within the framework of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (4E) project, which is jointly implemented by the Electricity and Renewable Energy Agency (EREA), the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ).

Accordingly, with the present market conditions, Vietnam’s economic potential of ground-mounted solar power projects will reach 7 gigawatt (GW) by 2020, higher than the national solar power target of 0.8GW. Once the market starts growing, the economic potential can reach several hundred GW in the 2021-2030 period, much more than the target of 12GW by 2030.

Speaking at the workshop, Sonia Lioret, head of GIZ’s 4E project, said, “This assessment is an important initiative as it helps Vietnam to steer the utilisation of renewable energy and to fulfill the targets of the National Power Development Plan. The results of the assessment could also be used for a future auctioning scheme for solar energy in Vietnam.”

The assessment, which was undertaken by the Vietnam Institute of Energy as the national consultant and the Becquerel Institute as the international consultant and was funded by GIZ, confirmed that Vietnam is endowed with significant solar potential, especially in the central and southern parts of the country.

By 2020, with the present market conditions, most of the projects will be developed in the central provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan. After 2020, there will be many solar power projects in other central and southern provinces, such as Tay Ninh, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Long An, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and the border areas between Dong Nai and Binh Thuan.

In addition, the research team also looked into the current development of solar PV in provinces where solar power projects are being planned. The assessment has also pointed out a number of solar development clusters and developed a list of solar power projects to be implemented by 2020.

With the the prime ministerial Decision No.11/2017/QD-TTg issued in April last year, solar power projects are allowed to sell electricity at a fixed price of 9.35 US cents/kWh to the national power grid. MoIT published on September 12, 2017 Circular No.16/2017/TT-BCT to provide guidance on implementing this decision.

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