New World Bank strategy to scale up solar energy production in Vietnam
The World Bank has released a new report with recommendations on how Vietnam can accelerate solar energy production and usage.
The report Vietnam Solar Competitive Bidding Strategy and Framework has been compiled over a period of two years in partnership with the government of Vietnam.
The report says Vietnam can boost its portfolio of solar energy from the current 4.5GW to tens of gigawatts in ten years, create thousands of jobs as well as achieve the government’s Nationally Determined Contribution climate change target.
Up to 25,000 jobs in project development, services, operations and maintenance will be created annually through 2030 and another 20,000 in manufacturing
The report recommends Vietnam to adopt two new deployment schemes for projects: competitive bidding for solar parks and ‘substation-based bidding.
The schemes will help to address curtailment —or underuse of solar generation capacity as well as improve risk allocation between public and private investors.
The report recommends setting yearly and medium-term solar deployment targets and revisions to the legal framework covering the competitive selection of independent power producers.
The first pilot tenders—500MW for substation-based bidding and another 500 MW for ground-mounted solar parks—are being planned for later in 2020 with the technical and financial support of the World Bank.
“We are grateful for World Bank support to promote renewable energy in Vietnam,” said Hoang Tien Dung, General Director of Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, Ministry of Industry and Trade. “In particular, the World Bank’s support to the Government’s effort in shifting from FIT to a competitive bidding mechanism for solar PV could be applied for other types of renewable energy in the future. It contributes to the sustainable and transparent development of renewable energy in Vietnam by harmonizing the interests of private investors, the government and customers.”
By Nicholas Nhede – Smart Energy International – February 17, 2020