Solar power installed in Long An - Photo: QUANG DINH
Installing solar power combined with a battery storage system (BESS) will avoid wasting excess electricity during peak hot weather, helping to supplement electricity in the evening. In particular, the battery storage will contribute to stabilizing the power system, avoiding fluctuations in power supply according to the weather.
To encourage people and businesses to increase the installation of storage batteries, experts say that there should be financial support policies, especially the need to study appropriate pricing mechanisms so that people can sell electricity back when the national power system needs this source of electricity, especially at peak times at night.
Win-win when installing storage
After many meetings on the mechanism for developing solar power in Vietnam, the latest content that people and businesses are interested in is that Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has asked the policy drafting agency to calculate the price mechanism for buying and selling electricity from the storage system.
Mr. Ha suggested that the Ministry of Industry and Trade study the incentive plan and provide financial support (taxes, interest rates, installation costs, etc.) for people to install rooftop solar power combined with investing in electricity storage equipment to resell to Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) at the base electricity price mobilized during peak hours.
Talking to Tuoi Tre about the new mechanism for electricity storage in Vietnam, businesses all said that this is a necessary stage to have regulations on electricity storage installation, even mandatory regulations for factories with large-capacity solar power installations to ensure the stability of the electricity system.
Mr. Le Anh Vu - Director of Energy Source Company Limited - said that although the cost of storage batteries has decreased in recent times, it is still quite high. Spending a large amount of money to install a solar power system, along with a not small amount of money to install an additional battery storage system, will recover capital much slower than before.
Therefore, investing in battery storage to sell electricity to the national grid is ineffective. To encourage people and businesses to install battery storage, the policy must calculate the price of buying electricity from the battery storage system at peak hours higher than at off-peak hours.
"Previously, the old decisions were that the price of electricity from solar power systems was fixed, but now there must be a high price for electricity during peak hours to encourage businesses to store electricity during off-peak hours and sell electricity during peak hours. Only then will people be bold enough to invest in storage batteries," said Mr. Vu.
Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thuy Ngan - SolarBK brand director - said that businesses have a need to install storage, but due to high prices and unclear policies, businesses are still hesitant.
Ms. Ngan said that there should be support policies on taxes and fees, reducing costs, helping businesses boldly invest in storage batteries.
Need to regulate storage ratio when installing solar power
Speaking with Tuoi Tre, Mr. Pham Phuoc Binh - Director of Bincon Joint Stock Company - said that installing solar power combined with storage batteries will solve the disadvantage of renewable energy in general and solar power in particular, which is instability.
Because this power source fluctuates erratically, it will cause difficulties for EVN in regulating the power system, but having a storage battery will partly solve this difficulty.
However, Mr. Binh said that it is still necessary to pay attention to technical issues for safe operation and reasonable investment.
Specifically, when installing a solar power system with a power storage function, an inverter integrated with a charger and power storage will be used. The system is programmed to operate optimally with solar radiation and grid power.
Therefore, if the solar power system has been installed, connected to the grid and is operating before, if it wants to install an additional power storage, it will have to calculate the integrated replacement cost higher than new investment projects. In addition, it is necessary to calculate the space to install suitable UPS, especially to ensure fire safety.
Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan - director of a solar power installation company in Ho Chi Minh City - said that storage batteries act as a base power source, ensuring stability for the power system.
However, if EVN invests, it will be very difficult in the current context. Therefore, in the immediate future, there needs to be a mechanism for people and businesses to install storage batteries, even making it mandatory for factories to install rooftop solar power with large capacity.
Mr. Tuan said that it is necessary to regulate the installation of a storage ratio appropriate to the total installed capacity to ensure system stability. For example, if you want to install 1 MW of solar power, you need to invest in an additional 200kW of storage batteries.
The price of storage batteries is high, so investing in batteries to sell electricity will not attract investment, but it is necessary to consider this as a base power solution to ensure the dual goal of stabilizing the power system and this is a backup power source for EVN to mobilize when there is a power shortage, especially at night or during peak summer.
"It is necessary to regulate the battery storage installation rate at 10-20% of the total installed capacity so that the system will always use this power source when it is cloudy or rainy, which will reduce the impact on the national grid while EVN also reduces the pressure on dispatching," said Mr. Tuan.
How much does a storage battery cost?
Responding to Tuoi Tre, Ms. Tran Thi Thu Van - country director of SolaX Power - said that the price of storage batteries has decreased sharply recently, people only need to invest less than 100 million VND to have a storage system with a capacity of about 6-7kW.
Meanwhile, Ms. Elva Wang - Southeast Asia regional director of Trina Solar - said that from last year until now, the price of storage batteries has decreased by 50%.
Popular on the market today is a storage system of about 5kW, people will spend about 3,000 - 5,000 USD per system.
Electricity consumption sets new record
On June 21, Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) said that both the maximum capacity and daily electricity consumption nationwide this June increased sharply with numbers reaching new record levels.
Data from the National Power System Dispatch Center shows that at 1:30 p.m. on June 19, the peak capacity of the national power system reached 49,533 MW. National consumption on June 14 reached 1.025 billion kWh.
According to EVN, if there is no rain in the evenings of recent days, the record electricity consumption could increase even more in both capacity and output, significantly increasing pressure on electricity supply.
Solar power strugglesSource: https://tuoitre.vn/se-mua-dien-mat-troi-qua-pin-luu-tru-20240622082348464.htm
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