Ha presided over a meeting to amend the draft decree on rooftop solar power development several days ago. He asked the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) to consider regulations on licensing self-sufficient rooftop solar power systems at home and businesses, emphasizing that registration procedures must be as simple as possible.

Regarding the purchase of excess electricity and connections between rooftop solar power systems with the national grid, MOIT has proposed buying 20 percent of actual installation capacity of solar power systems in the north and 10 percent in remaining areas.

EVN (Electricity of Vietnam) will pay for the electricity volume that organizations and individuals sell to the national grid at prices lower or equal to the average markey electricity price of the previous year, to be announced by the electricity system and electricity market regulation units. This would ensure reasonable levels in different periods of the national electricity system development.

EVN general director Nguyen Anh Tuan sais there are about 700MW of rooftop solar power in the north, and the current electricity system can receive 7,000 MW.

Do Van Nam from the Northern Power Company estimates that with the proposed rules shown in the draft decree, people would be able to save money when using electricity in peak hours.

If rooftop solar power system owners can sell excess electricity to the national grid, they will be able to recover investment capital after 5 or 6 years. The life expectancy of a solar panel is 12-15 years.

“There is still a lot of room for developing rooftop solar power in the north, so there must be reasonable policies to encourage the development of this type of clean power effectively,” Ha said. 

He asked MOIT to check transmission capability before giving ‘room’ for the development of rooftop solar power, especially in the north.

In an August 5 report, MOIT showed two options.

Option 1: Rooftop solar power system owners can sell excess electricity to the national grid, but the sale volume must be no higher than 20 percent of the systems’ installation capacity in the north and no higher than 10 percent in other areas, including the Central Highlands.

Option 2: The sale volume must be no higher than 10 percent of the real installation capacity, with no difference for different regions.

MOIT said it prefers Option 1.

Luong Bang