Vietnam proposes heavily-cut solar FIT rates from next month
A rooftop solar installation conducted in Vietnam last year. Image: Sungrow.
Vietnam is to slash feed-in tariffs available for rooftop solar installations from next month by as much as 38% in a bid to address grid pressures in the country, local media has reported.
The
Dai Doan Ket newspaper has cited Hoang Tien Dung, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, as stating that tariffs will be cut by between 31% and 38% to between US$0.052/kWh and US$0.058/kWh, depending on the system size.
Under the feed-in tariff 2 (FIT2) scheme, which closed to new applicants on 31 December 2020, tariff rates were as high as US$0.0838/kWh.
Unravelling the past, present and future of solar policy in Vietnam
Solar installs throughout 2020 took Vietnam’s cumulative capacity to more than 19.4GW. Image: JinkoSolar.
Vietnam’s year-end solar installation figure of 9GW captured headlines in January 2021. But how did Vietnam grow its cumulative solar installations from a 2018 base of 106MWp, according to International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) Renewable Capacity Statistics, to year end 2020 cumulative PV capacity of over 19.4GWp?
In a word, policy. The uncapped solar Feed-in Tariff (FIT) incentive policies to be more specific.
Cumulative solar capacity of ASEAN nations. IRENA (2020), Renewable Energy Statistics 2020, EVN (2021)
The original FIT1