On June 30, Vingroup member VinES Energy Solutions JSC and Solar BK’s Bach Khoa Investment and Development announced a pilot of 300 battery storage systems, which includes a special offer for the first 100 offices and families registering to install the systems this year.

Solar solutions bring best-in-class quality, illustration photo/ Source: Shutterstock

Under the agreement, SolarBK will be the authorised distributor for VinES’ battery energy storage systems, applying integrated solar rooftop solutions for residential and office segments in Vietnam. SolarBK and VinES said the solutions they bring will offer the market a product with high-quality, reasonable price, and best-in-class after-sales services.

Elsewhere, Brandon Chia, managing director of Sustainable Energy Solutions for Southeast Asia and Australia at SP Group, told VIR that it has long-term ambitions to contribute and empower Vietnam’s sustainable energy future. SP aims to achieve this through a suite of smart, digital energy management tools such as district cooling and microgrids, and deep-seated engineering capabilities.

SP Group is building towards becoming the largest rooftop solar operator in Vietnam, targeting 1.5GW of utility scale renewables and rooftop solar projects by 2025. Since 2021, the company has been developing solar projects across Vietnam through several partnerships and joint ventures, accumulating a total of more than 200MW of solar assets to date. This includes two solar farms in the south-central province of Phu Yen that can provide 130GWh of clean electricity annually.

“This acquisition was carried out with the long-term view to help commercial and industrial customers achieve 100 per cent of clean energy consumption when the direct power purchase framework is in place in the future,” Chia explained.

Vietnam’s Power Development Plan VIII emphasises prioritising and encouraging wind power development, self-generating, and self-consuming solar power – including solar power on people’s roofs and construction roofs, as well as at production, business, and consumption establishments on site, without connecting or selling electricity to the national grid.

In particular, the plan aims to have half of office buildings and residential homes by 2030 using self-generating and self-consuming rooftop solar power for on-site consumption.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha last month held a working session on policies to increase the installation of rooftop solar power systems in the community with representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), Electricity of Vietnam, and a number of relevant ministries and agencies.

Following that, the MoIT submitted its draft for self-consuming solar power to the government, noting that investors who fund and use rooftop solar power could be excused from the requirement of acquiring power operating licences and energy company registration certificates. They will also be prioritised for budgetary allocation, tax exemptions or reductions, and access to low-interest loans.

This mechanism has no installed capacity limitations. However, the systems must adhere to current electrical safety, construction safety, environmental protection, and fire prevention and control standards.

Relevant ministries and local governments must publish recommendations to ease construction, fire prevention and control, and environmental, and electrical safety processes for buildings with rooftop solar power systems.

However, last week the Ministry of Planning and Investment commented on the MoIT’s proposal, saying that the tentative mechanism does not encourage the development of green power as expected as it does not specify detailed regulations that would help persuade investors to install rooftop solar power systems.