Excess rooftop solar power is sold at a maximum of 20% capacity

On October 22, the Government issued Decree 135 on encouraging the development of self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power. This regulation applies to self-use solar energy sources installed on the roofs of houses, offices, industrial zones, clusters, export processing zones, high-tech zones, economic zones and production and business establishments. joint.

Accordingly, self-produced rooftop solar power systems that cannot be used up can be sold to the national electricity system, with a maximum of 20% of the actual installed capacity. Projects installed on office roofs and public property will not be allowed to buy or sell excess electricity.

Self-use rooftop solar power projects not connected to the national grid can be developed with unlimited capacity and are exempt from electricity operating licenses. Similarly, systems with anti-backward devices on the grid or installed in households and individual houses under 100 kW are also exempted.

On the contrary, systems with a capacity of 1,000 kW or more and selling excess electricity into the national grid must carry out planning procedures and have an electricity operation license.

Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) is the buyer and payment for organizations and individuals selling excess electricity output to the system. The purchase price is the average market electricity price of the preceding year, announced by the system and electricity market operator.

Currently, the country has about 103,000 rooftop solar power projects, with a total installed capacity of more than 9,500 MW. According to Power Plan VIII, the scale of this type of source by 2030 will increase by 2,600 MW or reach 50% of office buildings and residential homes.

Previously, when developing the draft, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that the policy was not “interested” in buying and selling rooftop solar power, because this power source is unstable and depends on weather factors. Meanwhile, to buy excess electricity, the State has to spend a lot of money investing in storage, transmission, operation and maintenance systems. However, following comments, many experts proposed allowing people to install rooftop solar power for their own use and sell the surplus to the grid. Authorities can set limits on redundancy rates to avoid policy profiteering, especially in industrial zones and clusters.

In addition to allowing the sale of surplus electricity, according to new regulations, self-consumed rooftop solar power projects also enjoy tax incentives and shortened administrative procedures… Households and individual houses are allowed to exempt or not required to adjust business license. In addition, organizations and individuals are encouraged to install their own electricity storage systems (BESS) to ensure safe and stable operation.

However, the incentive mechanism will not apply to cases where rooftop solar power is not linked to the national grid for sale to other organizations or individuals. This purchase will comply with regulations on the direct electricity trading mechanism between renewable energy generators and large electricity users (DPPA).