Removing bottlenecks in rooftop solar power development

In accordance with the spirit of Resolution 98/2023/QH15 (Resolution 98) recently issued by the National Assembly, Ho Chi Minh City is implementing a project to use public rooftops to install rooftop solar power systems. However, due to many shortcomings in the development mechanism, the development of this clean energy source still faces many bottlenecks.

Rooftop solar power system at Lazada Warehouse (Tan Binh Industrial Park, Tan Binh District, HCMC). Photo: HOANG HUNG

Still a lot of trouble

In the spirit of Resolution 98 on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Ho Chi Minh City, the city needs to take advantage of opportunities to encourage enterprises to switch to green production and produce green products, especially enterprises in industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs). However, Resolution 98 only allows the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to decide to use rooftops in administrative agencies, public service units, headquarters of agencies and units identified as public assets, and does not allow the development of rooftop solar power in IPs and EPZs, while these places have large areas. The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that with the mechanism of installing rooftop solar power systems for factories, plants, IPs and EPZs, it is necessary to have time to study policies and control capacity to suit the system, avoiding massive development.

Another issue, according to Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVNHCMC), is that lunchtime is when solar radiation is at its highest, with the greatest potential for generating electricity, and during holidays, the amount of electricity produced will be in surplus. Therefore, EVNHCMC recommends having an energy storage system during lunchtime and holidays.

Mr. Pham Dang An, Deputy General Director of Vu Phong Energy Group, commented that it is very necessary to have policies and mechanisms soon to have a legal corridor for developing rooftop solar power. Currently, many manufacturing enterprises, especially in industrial parks and export processing zones, are in dire need of investing in rooftop solar power to meet the goals of emission reduction, sustainable development practices, or meeting green environmental standards, requirements on the rate of renewable energy use from the global supply chain... However, the mechanism for installing rooftop solar power is still being developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, many solar power projects installed after 2020 still have no solution.

Meanwhile, Mr. Dao Xuan Duc, Chairman of the Association of Industrial Park Enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City, said that if the city took advantage of all the rooftops of state agencies in the area to install solar power, it would be about 166MW. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City has 18 industrial parks with an area planned by the government of about 7,000ha; in the coming time, it will expand by about 4,000ha. In 2019 alone, Ho Chi Minh City's industrial parks installed 80MW. After that, due to many difficulties in the implementation of the installation, the relevant parties had to stop.

Urgent need to perfect the mechanism

Resolution 98 allows the headquarters of administrative agencies, public service units... to install solar power systems for self-use. The People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City organizes this installation to ensure the landscape. According to calculations, the potential for installing rooftop solar power systems in Ho Chi Minh City is about 5,081MWp, determined for 4 groups: administrative agencies account for 3.27%, production accounts for 31.28%, trade and services account for 3.1% and households account for 62.34%. Of which, the solar power capacity that can be installed on the roofs of administrative agencies and public service units in the city is about 160MWp.

A rooftop solar power project in Binh Chanh district, Ho Chi Minh City

At the recent regular press conference on socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City, Mr. Nguyen Phuong Duy, Deputy Head of the Department of Energy Management of the Department of Industry and Trade, shared that the goal by 2030 is for the city to cover 50% of households using rooftop solar power. Currently, there are 14,210 rooftop solar power systems installed in the city, with a total capacity of about 358.3MWp. Regarding the mechanism for developing rooftop solar power, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is drafting a plan to implement the Power Plan 8, including the allocation of rooftop solar power capacity in localities for submission to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval.

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is also drafting a Government Decree on the mechanism to encourage the development of rooftop solar power, which includes provisions on the order and procedures for the installation of rooftop solar power systems. The Department of Industry and Trade has advised the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to send a dispatch to the Ministry of Industry and Trade to provide comments on the proposal to develop a Government Decree on the mechanism to encourage the development of rooftop solar power. The Department also recommended that the Ministry of Industry and Trade study a specific policy mechanism for the development of rooftop solar power for the city. After the Government issues the mechanism for the development of rooftop solar power, the Department of Industry and Trade will base on the capacity allocated in the plan to implement Power Plan 8 and the Decree on the mechanism to encourage the development of rooftop solar power to advise the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to implement the installation in the city.

Meanwhile, the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association (HUBA) recommends that the city should have a mechanism to encourage rooftop solar power of factories, enterprises, projects, etc. for self-use, not selling electricity to other organizations or individuals but connecting to the national grid. This helps Ho Chi Minh City increase the amount of electricity supplied, businesses have more income, and take advantage of existing facilities.

DUC TRUNG

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