Selling rooftop solar power to organizations or individuals outside of EVN will be considered a legal violation

DNHN - The new draft by the Ministry of Industry and Trade stipulates that Vietnam Electricity (EVN) is the sole purchaser of self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has submitted a draft decree to the Government on policies to encourage the development of self-produced, self-consumed rooftop solar power after gathering feedback from Government members.

In the document sent to the Government, the Ministry of Industry and Trade strongly supports the development of self-produced, self-consumed solar power systems. These systems will be installed on the rooftops of legally constructed buildings, including residential homes, offices, industrial parks, industrial clusters, export processing zones, high-tech parks, economic zones, and business and production facilities. This is to ensure consistency with existing laws on construction and energy.

A notable point in the draft is the provision that Vietnam Electricity (EVN) will be the only entity allowed to purchase electricity from these rooftop solar systems. Accordingly, any action involving the sale of electricity to organizations or individuals outside of EVN will be considered a legal violation. This reflects the Ministry of Industry and Trade's determination to strictly manage and ensure transparency in the solar power market.

The draft also clearly defines two forms of solar power development: systems connected to the national grid and systems not connected to the grid. For systems not connected to the national grid, organizations and individuals only need to inform and submit design documents to management agencies such as the Department of Industry and Trade, fire prevention agencies, and local electricity authorities for monitoring, without needing prior registration.

Meanwhile, systems connected to the national grid will have to comply with registration regulations. Organizations and individuals have the right to choose whether or not to feed surplus electricity into the national grid. For systems with a capacity of 100kW or more, parties must reach an agreement with the electricity buyer on the equipment and connection methods to ensure the safety of the national power system.

Another noteworthy policy is that households and individual residences are encouraged to develop rooftop solar power systems with a capacity of less than 100kW without any capacity restrictions nationwide. Organizations and individuals installing systems with a capacity of less than 1,000kW are also not required to register with the Department of Industry and Trade but only need to notify relevant parties for monitoring.

For off-grid systems, the Ministry of Industry and Trade prioritizes development without capacity limits and exempts them from electricity operation licenses. For grid-connected systems, projects will be prioritized for exemption from procedures related to land-use adjustments and functionality in accordance with legal regulations.

Particularly, for systems with a capacity of 1MW or more, if the organization chooses to sell electricity, they must complete the procedures to obtain an electricity operation license. Meanwhile, systems with a capacity of less than 100kW can sell surplus electricity to the national grid, but no more than 20% of the actual installed capacity. The price for surplus electricity will be calculated based on the average market electricity price of the previous year, as announced by the system and electricity market operator.

An Thao