THE COUNTRY said it has issued a new decree to allow factories to directly buy electricity from power suppliers, in a move that could help unleash the country’s rich renewable energy potential.
Under the new rules, power consumers can buy electricity directly from renewable power generators via private transmission lines at negotiated prices, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.
Vietnam, a regional manufacturing hub, has been seeking to boost solar and wind in its power mix, but weak transmission infrastructure and regulatory hurdles have kept several projects from getting hooked to the national grid.
The country has this year been ramping up coal burning and expanding its generation capacity and grid to avoid a repeat of last year’s crippling blackouts.
The reform could increase renewable energy production and make it easier for multinationals to access clean power sources, which is crucial in particular for exporters to avoid higher tariffs and meet environmental, social and governance requirements.
This means Vietnam-based manufacturers such as Germany’s Bosch, Denmark’s Lego or Apple’s suppliers can directly buy electricity from producers, effectively ending the monopoly grid of Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the state-owned distributor.
The decree also allows consumers to buy electricity via the national power grid operated by EVN, as long as sellers have a generation capacity of at least 10 megawatts.
Vietnam last year approved a long-awaited master power development plan that would raise the country’s total installed power generation capacity to over 150 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 from over 80GW at the end of last year.
Under that plan, the country’s solar capacity will reach 12.8GW and a wind capacity of 27.88GW by 2030. — Reuters
