The owner of a 20 hectare banana farm in Gia Lai, B.M.H. wants to install a solar power system on the roof of the compost house. However, he cannot implement his plan because of complicated regulations.

He was told that he can install solar panels on the roofs at the farm and connect to the national grid, but he will have to explain some issues to the local power companies. Meanwhile, the land, which is listed as ‘land for perennial crops’, must be switched to ‘other types of agricultural land’.

However, H could not register the changes in the land-use purposes because the local authorities ‘had no more plans for land use’.

As of August 23, 45,299 rooftop solar power projects had become operational with total capacity of 1,029 MWp, according to the Electricidty of Vietnam (EVN).

At a recent workshop, Nguyen Van Khang, chair of the Tien Giang province’s Union of Science and Technology Associations, told his story about rooftop solar power development.

Khang installed a 6KW rooftop solar power system in July 2019, which cost VND93 million. Khang sold the electricity created by the system to Tien Giang Power Company, while he bought electricity from the company for household use.

One year later, the power company paid him VND9 million for the electricity he sold. Tt'he electricity selling price was VND1.9 million for 1 KW.

Khang concluded that the electricity price at which households sell to EVN is not attractive enough to encourage people to develop rooftop solar power.

Meanwhile, Tran Viet Nguyen from EVN said that many people still hesitate to install rooftop solar power because they lack information about the quality of products, installation companies and equipment maintenance.

Moreover, the expenses for equipment and installation remain relatively high. There are no policies to encourage households to install rooftop solar power systems and there are no national standards for equipment and rooftop power systems.

Nguyen proposed that the government and ministries design the mechanisms and support packages that help minimize the installation and operation costs.

He stressed that after the fixed electricity selling price mechanism stipulated in the Prime Minister’s Decision No 13 (FIT 2 price) expires, Vietnam will need a new pricing mechanism in 2021.

Regarding the safety standards for rooftop solar power systems, Hoang Manh Tan, deputy CEO of Son Ha Group, expressed his concern about the low quality of solar panels.

“We know that some products cannot meet standards available in the market,” he said.

“There is a manufacturer making B- or C-class products and exporting the products to China. Who can say for sure that the products won’t come back to Vietnam?” he said. 

H. Duy

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