According to the National Assembly's Resolution 98/2023/QH15 (Resolution 98) on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies to develop Ho Chi Minh City, the city needs to take advantage of opportunities to encourage businesses to convert to green production and produce green products, especially businesses in industrial parks (IZs) and export processing zones (EPZs).
Ho Chi Minh City is implementing a project to install electricity-generating solar panels on house roofs. However, the Resolution 98 only allows the municipal People's Committee to decide to use roofs in administrative agencies, public service units, and headquarters of agencies and units that are identified as public assets and has not yet allowed to install electricity-generating solar panels in businesses in IZs and EPZs which have large areas.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, it needs more time to develop the mechanism of installing rooftop electrical systems for factories, industrial parks, and export processing zones and studies must be carried out to control capacity to suit the system, and avoid massive development.
On the other hand, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation, noon is the time when solar heat radiation is greatest so the amount of electricity produced will be redundant. Therefore, EVNHCMC recommends having an energy storage system during noon.
Deputy General Director Pham Dang An of Vu Phong Energy Group said that having early policies and mechanisms to create a legal corridor to develop rooftop solar power is very necessary. Currently, many manufacturing enterprises, especially those in industrial parks and export processing zones, are in dire need of investing in rooftop solar power to meet emission reduction goals, practice sustainable development, or meet green environmental standards and requirements on the rate of use of renewable energy from the global supply chain.
However, the mechanism to install rooftop solar power is still being developed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, there is still no solution for many solar power projects which have been installed after 2020.
Meanwhile, Chairman Dao Xuan Duc of Ho Chi Minh City Industrial Park Enterprises Association said that if the city took advantage of all the roofs of state agencies in the city to install solar power, it would generate about 166MW. Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City has 18 industrial parks with an area planned by the government of about 7,000 hectares.
In the coming time, the area for industrial parks will be expanded to about 4,000 hectares. In 2019 alone, Ho Chi Minh City's industrial parks installed solar panels with a capacity of 80MW. After that, due to many difficulties in implementation and installation, the project has been canceled.
The Resolution 98 allows the installation of solar power systems in the headquarters of administrative agencies and public service offices in Ho Chi Minh City for self-use. The municipal People's Committee organizes this installation to ensure the landscape. According to calculations, the installation of rooftop solar power systems in Ho Chi Minh City has the potential of about 5,081MWp. Of 5,081MWp, the solar power capacity that can be installed on the roofs of administrative agencies and public service units in the city is about 160MWp.
At the periodic press conference on Ho Chi Minh City's economic and social issues that recently took place, Deputy Head Nguyen Phuong Duy of the Energy Management Division under the Department of Industry and Trade shared that by 2030, the city planned that 50 percent of households would use rooftop solar power. Currently, approximately 14,210 rooftop solar power systems have been 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 developing a draft plan to implement Power Plan 8, which includes the allocation of rooftop solar power capacity in localities to submit for the Prime Minister’s approval.
At the same time, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is also developing a draft Government Decree on the mechanism to encourage the development of rooftop solar power, including regulations on the order and procedures for implementing rooftop solar power system.
The Department of Industry and Trade advised the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to send an official dispatch to the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposing to develop a Government Decree on a mechanism to encourage the development of rooftop solar power. The Department also proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade to study specific mechanisms to develop rooftop solar power for the city.
After the Government promulgates the mechanism to develop rooftop solar power, the Department of Industry and Trade will base on the capacity allocated in the Power Plan 8 and the Decree on the mechanism to encourage the development of rooftop solar power for the implementation of special panel installation in the city.
At this time, the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Association (HUBA) proposed that the city need a mechanism to encourage rooftop solar power of factories, enterprises and projects for self-use, not for sales. This source of energy should be connected to the national electricity system. This can help Ho Chi Minh City increase the amount of electricity supply and businesses’ income will increase more with existing facilities.
