Arizona rooftop solar

Covering a total area of over 7,500 m2, the project is under the management of the Saigon Cargo Service Corporation (SCSC) and was invested in and installed by Copper Mountain Energy JSC (CME).

This is the first renewable energy project to be installed in the airport network in Vietnam as well as being the largest in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.

In its first phase, the project is estimated to provide about 1.5 million kwh of electricity annually, meeting 40% of SCSC’s electricity demand, while reducing its energy costs by about 15% and cutting emissions by about 1.5 tonnes of CO2. In phase 2, the project will be expanded in order to achieve 100% clean energy output.

According to an SCSC representative, the unit’s electricity demand is about 3.7 million kwh each year. Putting the rooftop energy source into operation is expected to save the SCSC about VND1.5 billion annually, along with making savings on a lot of other operating costs.

Nguyen Quoc Khanh, General Director of the SCSC, said: “We aim to develop the SCSC into a model air cargo terminal in Vietnam and the region, utilising renewable energy and exploiting existing rooftop areas to save energy and protect the environment.”

The solar panels in the system have a total capacity of 1.1 MWp.

The project meets the rigorous quality standards needed for accreditation by AFRY – a reputable Swedish-Finnish engineering, consulting and design company within the fields of energy, industry, infrastructure and information technology.

According to a representative from AFRY, for rooftop solar power projects like that at Tan Son Nhat Airport, construction must not only ensure all technical requirements and quality control specifications are upheld, but also ensure aviation security and safety without any negative effect on air transport. The project is one of the few highly lauded by the AFRY as meeting regional and international requirements.

Notably, this is the first project in Vietnam that strictly complies with the design, approval, and construction process, successfully putting into use a fire protection system approved by the Fire and Rescue Police Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Police.

Bui Trung Kien, Deputy General Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVNHCMC), said that up until now, only factories roofs in Ho Chi Minh City have anywhere near 70 MW of solar power in operation, while the potential for its use is estimated up to be nearly 1,500 MW, so that room for solar power development in Ho Chi Minh City is quite large. According to EVNHCMC, there were 8,762 grid-connected rooftop solar power projects in the city last year.

To date, nearly 50,000 projects of this kind have been put into operation nationwide with a total capacity of 1,200 MWp.

In August, EVN ensured stable and sufficient supply of electricity for socio-economic development and demand, particularly during the country’s celebrations of the 75th anniversary of August Revolution and National Day.

During the January-August period, the group produced and imported 164.05 billion kWh, up 2.01% against the same period last year, of which hydropower constituted 39.03 billion kWh, coal thermal power 88.87 billion kWh, gas turbines 24.96 billion kWh, oil thermal power 1.04 billion kWh, and renewable energy (wind power, solar power, and biomass power) 7.27 billion kWh.

Across the same period, the group’s commercial electricity rose 2.39% year-on-year to 142.38 billion kWh. The figure reached 19.73 billion kWh in August alone.

hoping to release some of the pressure on the national power grid that was exacerbated by the previous generous tariff that lasted until the end of December, as well as to prevent fraud for solar farming.

New phase on horizon for solar power development.

Last year witnessed a boom for solar power development as the closing date for the second solar feed-in tariff (FiT) came near. A total of 9.3 gigawatt peak (GWp) of rooftop solar capacity was connected to the national power system, with more than 6.7GW of solar power units installed in December alone, according to Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

Hoang Tien Dung, director general of the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s (MoIT) Electricity and Renewable Energy Authority, stated that tariffs will be cut by 31-38 per cent to 5.2-5.8 US cents per kWh, depending on the system size.

Under the ministry’s proposal, the bidding mechanism will be applied for ground-mounted and floating systems, while rooftop solar systems are to receive a fixed mechanism.

Under the previous FiT2, which closed its application period on December 31, Vietnam’s rooftop solar installations skyrocketed dramatically. The respective prices of each kilowatt-hour generated from ground-mounted, floating, and rooftop solar initiatives were 7.09, 7.69, and 8.38 US cents that were not only a serious overload of the existing power grid but also saw mischievous transactions between partaking investors.

The new proposed tariffs are set to come into effect from next month and have been designed to address pressures on Vietnam’s power grid created by the surge in solar installations last year.

Deterring fraudsters

The MoIT confirmed at a meeting this month that it will set up a task group for the nationwide inspection of solar power projects since it suspects that some investors took advantage of the incentives between July 2019 and the end of 2020 offered by the FiT2. As such, the MoIT requested state-run EVN to list all solar power projects entitled to receive the FiT rates as well as all rooftop solar power systems with capacity of 100kWp or more which have been put into operation within the respective timeframe.

The movement is meant to prevent loopholes in future regulations and speculative projects, such as solar farms disguised as rooftop systems.

Following the request, EVN must certify all operating rooftop solar systems which comply with the regulations on development and grid connection. The electricity provider also has to clarify operation dates, power purchase agreements, and other legal regulations in electricity and supply sectors for the list.

Pham Que Phong, chairman of Inter Solar JSC, pointed out that loose management has led to the fact that the majority of solar rooftop projects are now solar farms disguised as rooftop solar units and enjoy the FiT2’s rate of 8.38 US cents per kWh instead of 7.09 US cents for solar farms.

Agricultural production combined with the installation of solar power is a cyclic economic model that aims to create a value chain within the solar power system. However, this benefit has been misused with many “fake roofs” appearing on agricultural land aiming to receive the preferential rates, according to EVN.

In the three provinces of Dak Nong, Gia Lai, and Dak Lak, the number of solar power projects has increased five times in the past year, of which over 40 per cent of the connected capacity comes from the agricultural farms.

According to Dak Lak Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, recent inspections showed that many rooftop farming projects were established in the area, but only focus on selling electricity.

The heavy cut in incentives for solar rooftop power could reduce the interest of investors and developers. However, Dung said that the reduction in the purchase price of rooftop solar power still ensures benefits of parties such as EVN, investors, and the state.

The development of rooftop solar power has been incompatible with the demand and the available transmission grid. Last December, the operations of the national grid were hampered when the power demand saw a decline. Total produced and imported power of the national grid stood at about 245.9 billion kWh, up around 2.7 per cent against 2019 but down 15.6 billion kWh compared to the operation plan of the national electricity grid approved by the MoIT.

Investor challenges

Solar expert Mai Van Trung pointed out, “The intermittent nature of solar power has recently raised many technical and financial concerns, particularly in the context of the low demand and delays in the grid’s frequency regulation projects.”

Even wind has become a victim of recent hot developments. Vietnam plans to cut 1.3 billion kWh of renewable energy in 2021 due to the oversupply and overloaded transmission lines, as Nguyen Duc Ninh, director of the National Load Dispatch Center, said at a meeting with EVN on January 13.

Overloads were reported in Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan, and a few central areas, and the National Load Dispatch Center cut 365 million kWh of solar output last year due to these developments.

Investors and developers blamed the overload on solar power projects in some provinces – such as Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan – as well as the lack of synchronisation between the planning and execution stages of power source and grid projects. Some argued that these factors have been severely overloading the local power grid and caused damage for investors.

The south-central region is the nation’s treasure trove of renewable energy, but local conditions are not ready to accommodate the upcoming supply. It takes three years, on average, to build a power grid project, while a solar power plant needs only one year to put in place. As a result, grid development cannot catch up with the proliferation of solar and wind power projects.

Nguyen Minh Quang from the National Load Dispatch Centre explained in 2019 that renewable energy projects need to be integrated into electricity grids that are capable of managing new complexities such as unpredictable and intermittent supply and more distributed power generation. Grid operators may also need to expand and modernise their infrastructure to ensure reliability, efficiency, and security of electricity supply.

In the latest movement, Trung Nam Group, which has been building energy projects in Ninh Thuan, Tra Vinh, Gia Lai, and Dak Lak, claimed that due to frequent reduction in capacity of solar and wind power projects, the group submitted a proposal to remove difficulties to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly and the government. According to Trung Nam Group, the frequent reduction in capacity reduces electricity generation revenue and disrupts the group’s financial plan, and so it faces great pressure in paying off the bank loans due to unsecured revenue from electricity generation.

VIR

EVN has strengthened technology application in all of its activities

In order to minimize solar power cuts and avoid damage to investors, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has issued an express dispatch to the People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces and the Vietnam Electricity (EVN), asking them to urgently review and synthesize the issues regarding solar power, especially the rooftop solar power.

Inconsistent policy

According to Nguyen Duc Ninh, Director of the National Load Dispatch Center, (NLDC) the rooftop solar power output increased continuously last year, from 6,000 MWp in June 2020 to 10,000 MWp by end of the year. The final week of the year recorded an additional surge of 3,000-4,000 MWp, forcing the regulator agency to reduce 365 million kWh of untapped solar power.

According to Ninh’s analysis, the excess electricity was generated mainly in the southern provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan and some central provinces. By late November 2020, due to the surge of solar farms and rooftop solar power plants, the electricity industry had to cut 35 million kWh in excess power.

According to NLDC’s calculations for 2021, about 1.3 billion kWh will be cut, of which more than 500 million kWh will be cut due to the excess solar power at noontime and overload of the 500 kV transmission lines from the central to northern region.

Ninh assessed that the proportion of renewable energy in the system is increasing sometimes at a rate of 30-40 percent. However, renewable energy policies, especially on rooftop power, lack synchronization while solutions for electricity storage in batteries lag far behind.

Minimizing damage

Following the Prime Minister’s directions, and in order to minimize the reduction of solar power and avoid damage to investors, the MoIT is planning to inspect the recent development of rooftop solar power in order to propose mechanisms and policies in accordance with demand, operational capacity and costs.

Accordingly, the MoIT has asked EVN to synthesize solar power projects eligible for electricity selling prices according to Prime Ministerial Decision 13/2020/QD-TTg.

EVN is also required to direct power corporations and provincial power units to make a list of rooftop solar power systems with capacity of 100 kWp or more that have been put into operation, ensure the systems conform to regulations on development and connection; and recognize operation dates, signing dates of electricity purchase and sale contracts and other legal regulations in the field. The information will be provided to the provincial Department of Industry and Trade to set up a database of rooftop solar power systems.

Based on the list, EVN needs to synthesize rooftop solar power across the country; research and propose effective solutions to minimize reduction of solar power sources already in operation as well as damage to investors.

The MoIT also asked EVN to appoint a representative to join the ministry’s inspection team regarding solar power development, especially the rooftop solar power. It also asks People’s Committees of provinces and cities to coordinate with the relevant departments, agencies and sectors to review and evaluate rooftop solar power in accordance with current legal regulations, and implement tasks recently assigned by the PM on the review of solar power.

Do Nga

Solar power can be used to produce electricity for household’s use in An Giang Province. — VNS Photos Tin Nguyen

Sot doesn’t have a job and together with her children, aged between two and 10, has to live on VND2 million (US$87) her husband sends back every month.

Her mobile phone is the only way the young mother can keep in touch with her husband. Living in an off-grid area in An Tuc where houses are located sparsely, she fears most her phone will run out of battery in the middle of the night when she needed to make a call.

In most parts of Vietnam where reliable supply of electricity is taken for granted, people can charge their phone almost anywhere, anytime, whether at home, supermarkets or restaurants.

But for Sot, this means that she would have to make a short walk to her relative’s house to charge the phone.

Néang Sốt (second, left) sits with her neighbours in An Tuc Commune. Most men and young people have left the commune to look for jobs.

In recent years, Vietnam has experienced a renewable energy boom but off-grid communities are still too remote to benefit.

According to the state-owned Vietnam Power Group, the total installed capacity of solar power in Vietnam has reached 19,400 MWp, accounting for about 25 per cent of the total installed capacity of the national power system.

The total solar power generation output in 2020 alone was 10.6 billion kWh, accounting for about 4.3 per cent of the total electricity output of the national power system.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade set the target to provide 21,000 households with electricity from renewable energy in 2016-2020, however, the target fell short with only 617 households having access to solar electricity under the ministry’s scheme as of 2020.

“The investment for renewable energy is much lower than for grid and suitable for areas where locals use a small amount of electricity,” said Luu Tung Giang, deputy head of the Division of Grid and Rural Electricity under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However there are difficulties in managing the panels if these are installed in rural areas, using state funds, he said, adding that these will be treated as state property and managed by the local commune or district. Meanwhile, there isn’t any policy related to this, he said.

While the authorities are still struggling with the management scheme, as many as 871,263 households in 2,197 communes across Vietnam live either without electricity or with a disrupted, unstable source of power.

Aware that it will take a long time and an unaffordable sum of money to have the grid in this remote, sparsely populated area, Sot spent VND1.5 million ($65) to buy a solar panel last year.

A local NGO has helped more than 500 households in two districts of Tinh Bien and Tri Ton have access to solar energy.

She said: “Solar energy has made my life a lot easier. Before we could hardly do anything under the dim light of kerosene lamps at night, but now everything is more convenient with electricity,”

Just last year, Sot still had to cycle a few kilometres on dirt road to buy kerosene as fuel for lighting.

Now her family doesn’t have to put up with the petroleum-like odour of kerosene and she can spend the night time playing with her kids, help the eldest daughter with homework, surf the Internet and have video calls with her husband.

The initiative to bring solar energy panels to off-grid communities in An Giang is implemented by Green Innovation and Development Centre (GreenID), a Vietnamese non-for-profit organisation in cooperation with the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

An Giang Province has an ideal condition for solar with a dry season lasting for five months and high solar radiation level.

With more than 450,000 Euros, mostly funded by Bread for the World, the project has been implemented in four communes of An Hao, Chau Lang, An Tuc and O Lam in the two districts of Tri Ton and Tinh Bien since 2019, according to Nguyen Thi Ha, project manager of GreenID.

These localities are chosen as the number of households living without electricity here is still high and they are mostly poor with average income of VND10-13 million ($435-565) a year, who can hardly afford the grid electricity, she said.

“Poor infrastructure and remote locations make grid electricity very expensive here,” Ha said.

“Individual rooftop panels are a suitable solution. So our goal was to offer them a cheap model that can provide enough electricity for household’s use.”

In each commune, energy teams were created made up of local residents. These teams will help raise awareness about the benefits of solar panels, look for solar panel providers, install systems and carry out maintenance work.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed some of its activities and events, the project has achieved the target of providing solar panels for more than 500 households with the total capacity of 1,500kWp by the end of 2020.

Access to electricity is a fundamental step to reduce poverty in Tri Ton and Tinh Bien districts.

A package of a PV system including a solar panel and a charger is sold at half price at VND1.5 million. Depending on families’ demand, locals will buy batteries to store the power for night time or rainy days.

37-year-old Tran Duc Anh in An Hao Commune used to travel 6km from his house to the township’s centre to charge the power generator almost every day.

A 25 amp generator took almost half a day to be fully charged so he had to bring the generator to the charging point in the morning, then go to work and come back to pick it up in the late afternoon.

“Sometimes, it was pouring and I didn’t feel like going out at all but there was no other choice,” said Anh, adding that a family of four now would have to spend VND200,000-300,000 ($9-13) a month for charging expenses if they do without electricity.

After installing 475w solar panels, his family now has access to a reliable, clean and cheap source of electricity for household’s use.

The father of two has bought a new television and more fans to cope with the scorching summer here.

“Providing electricity is a fundamental step in reducing poverty here in the long term,” said Néang Sa Rum, deputy chairwoman of An Tuc’s People’s Committee, adding that the cost to be connected with the electricity network ranges from VND6-10 million depending on different locations.

This seems to be unaffordable for people in these two districts who earn an average income of VND10-13 million ($435-565) a year.

Truong Kien Tho, vice director of An Giang’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development told Việt Nam News: “It is hard to achieve the target of having all rural households connected with grid networks, especially in remote mountainous areas where people are sparsely populated. Solar is a perfect alternative in these areas.

“This project has profound impacts on the use of solar energy among ethnic minority communities in two mountainous districts of Tinh Bien and Tri Ton. It also has ripple effects to non-ethnic communities in other communes of the two districts,”

But he did say there are still 437 households living without electricity in An Giang as of 2020.

With positive results from the project in An Giang, GreenID’s project manager said she hoped to duplicate this initiative in other areas with similar conditions to create impacts for local communities.

For people like Duc Anh and Sot, this is the new chapter in their life and a hopeful future for their children.

“The solar brings light to our area and a better future for the young generation,” said Sot.

VNS

* This story was written & produced as part of a media skills development programme delivered by Thomson Reuters Foundation. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and the publisher.

A plan proposed by the National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC), under the national utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) intends to cut 180 kilowatt-hours per month in the third quarter and 350-400 kilowatt-hours per month in the last quarter.

This time frame corresponds with the expected third and further quarter annual flooding in the northern, and central-southern regions, respectively, when hydropower power supply would increase.

The proposed amount of 1.74 billion kilowatt-hours is 34 percent higher than EVN’s previous plan to cut 1.3 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy this year.

Cutting solar and wind power has been the go-to solution for EVN since last year, after a surge in the number of such plants strained the national grid.

As solar power plants depend on the number of sunshine hours during the day, authorities still have to rely on traditional sources such as coal, gas and hydropower to ensure grid stability.

This is why solar power, whose output could fluctuate by up to thousands of megawatts in seconds depending on the intensity of sunlight, is the first to be cut when there is an overload.

Another reason for the output cut is slower growth in consumption. Last year, due to Covid-19 impacts, demand grew by less than 2.5 percent compared to 10 percent in previous years.

The cuts have hurt renewable energy developers. A leader of a solar power company in the central province of Ninh Thuan, who asked not be identified, said his plant has seen output cut since the end of last year.

The company has to bear losses of hundreds of million Vietnamese dong (VND100 million = $4,300) each month, not to mention suffer interest payment to banks, he added.

The Phu Lac Wind Power Plant in the central province of Binh Thuan is also suffering output cuts.

The plant’s CEO, Bui Van Thinh, said both developers and EVN were victims in this situation as the number of new plants exceed the government’s original plan, while there is a lack of synchronization in source and transmission investment.

The transmission line has reached its max capacity as dozens of plants come online, he said, adding: “Our revenues have plunged and the situation is tense.”

Although energy authorities had earlier warned of power shortages this year, the boom in renewable power development has in reality created an oversupply, creating problems for EVN .

Solar capacity surged to 19,400 megawatts-peak at the end of last year, accounting for 25 percent of total power capacity. This capacity came from over 100 farms and 101,000 rooftop constructions.

Last year, authorities cut solar power by a total of 365 million kilowatt hours after the Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan grids were overloaded.