Rooftop solar power sold at 20% capacity?

Speaking at a meeting to review and give opinions on the draft decree on self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power (SPP) on August 13, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha said that there is still a lot of room for rooftop solar power development in the North and there needs to be policies to encourage investment.

Will rooftop solar power have more room?

Therefore, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to review the conditions as a basis for adjusting planning and plans, opening "room" for self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power, especially in the North (the planning for grid connection with rooftop solar power is currently 2,600 MW - PV).

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is also required to study and agree on the rate of selling surplus electricity from self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power sources to the national power system at 20% of the actual installed capacity.

For the metering and data collection system, monitoring and control, in case the installed capacity is less than 100 kWh, it will be connected to the power unit's system. With the capacity level above 100 kWh, it must be connected to the power distribution control level.

In particular, there must be technical management solutions to control capacity and ensure system safety, especially power sources connected to the medium voltage grid.

The Deputy Prime Minister also assigned relevant units to calculate load demand, ensure system safety, and transmission network to submit to the Prime Minister for adjustment of electricity planning.

For organizations and individuals who have developed self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power after December 31, 2020, there will be transitional regulations.

In particular, units and households that have installed without connecting to the electrical system send information to the competent authority that issues the development certificate to record the scale and location.

If you register to add surplus power generation to the system, you will have to comply with the provisions of this decree.

Also at the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - General Director of Vietnam Electricity Group - said that the entire North has about 700 MW of rooftop solar power, while the system capacity can receive about 7,000 MW.

Mr. Do Van Nam - member of the board of members of the Northern Power Corporation - said that with the draft, people will save when using electricity during peak hours.

"By selling excess electricity to the system, after about 5-6 years, households can recover their investment capital, while the lifespan of a solar panel is about 12-15 years," said Mr. Nam.

In addition, some opinions also discussed preferential policies when installing electricity storage systems, developing rooftop solar power in industrial parks and clusters to avoid overlapping with the direct electricity trading mechanism; considering the total capacity of developing self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power sources connected to the grid not to exceed the approved capacity in the planning.