HCM City — With the Government releasing the policy to develop the solar energy industry, it is poised for a boom, a workshop heard in HCM City on Monday.

“The Vietnamese solar energy market has become very active after the first legislation for solar power development, Decision 11, was passed in April 2017,” Trần Quốc Điền, director of planning and business development at the Power Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 3, told the first German Solar Training workshop.

Simon Bittner, business development advisor to the German Agency for International Co-operation’s Project Development Programme (PDP), said, “We aim to help Vietnamese enterprises benefit from the expertise of German companies in developing and applying solar photovoltaic technologies and provide a platform for transfer of technology and know-how and facilitate partnerships between German and Vietnamese companies.”

Under the German Energy Solutions Initiative, PDP aims to support the development and execution of pilot projects using innovative renewable energy solutions and energy efficiency technologies as a feasible alternative to conventional power generation in developing and emerging countries by providing market information, building capacity of local actors and facilitating business partnerships and exchange of experience and expertise between German and local companies.

Around 50 project developers and executives from engineering services companies in the solar sector took part in the three-day training programme.

Participants were told about various aspects of the development and operation of a solar photovoltaic project, including system components, feasibility study, tendering and procurement, commissioning, operation and maintenance as well as rooftop self-generation application for the industrial and commercial sectors.

The training, by professionals from six German companies, not only focuses on fundamental knowledge but also provides practical experience.

Decision 11 sets the tariff for both utility-scale solar projects and rooftop net-metering remuneration scheme at 9.35 cents/kWh.

The decision underlines the Government’s commitment to exploiting the country’s vast solar power potential and to meet solar power targets of 850 MW installed capacity by 2020, 4GW by 2025 and 12GW by 2030.

It establishes a conducive legal framework for attracting private investment in the most two promising solar PV segments in Việt Nam: utility-scale projects and rooftop applications.

There are a number of large solar projects in the pipeline already.

There is high demand among local developers and investors for international partnerships since it enables transfer of knowledge and engineering expertise. — VNS