Ministry mulls new tariffs for wind power plants that missed incentive deadline

It is considering a tariff structure for all types of energy, based on which investors would negotiate power prices with state-owned monopoly distributor Vietnam Electricity, Nguyen Tuan Anh, deputy head of the ministry’s Electricity and Renewable Energy, said at a meeting held on Dec. 22 to discuss bottlenecks faced by the renewables sector.

It is expected that the tariffs will be announced after Power Development Plan VIII for 2021-30 is approved by the government.

The incentive feed-in-tariffs, or the prices offshore and onshore wind power producers will get for their electricity, are 9.8 cents and 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for 20 years for those who began commercial generation before Nov. 1.

A total of 84 qualified for the incentive rates meant to stimulate investment in renewable energy.

Another 62 wind power projects with a total capacity of nearly 3,500 MW were unable to start commercial generation before Nov. 1 and are now going on stream.

They have a combined investment of some US$7 billion, including $4 billion borrowed from banks, Pham Nhu Anh, a member of the executive board of Military Bank, said.

Many investors in renewable energy projects said at the meeting they were unable to start commercial generation before Nov. 1 because of Covid-19, and urged relevant agencies to quickly issue new price policies and mechanisms for them.

Dang Manh Cuong, deputy general director of BB Group, said his company ordered wind turbines and other equipment early this year, but they only arrived when the pandemic was raging in southern Vietnam.

"The equipment for our two wind power projects was stranded at a HCMC port for three months because the city imposed social distancing".

Ho Ta Tin, chairman of HBRE Group, said wind power projects that could not start operating before Nov. 1 due to Covid-19 should also be given incentive FITs but a lower 6.8-6.9 cents per kilowatt-hour and for only 10 years.

Wind and solar power started to develop in Vietnam in 2011 and have boomed since 2017 thanks to the FIT incentives.

The country now has an installed capacity of over 16,000 MW of solar power and 4,100 MW of wind power. Renewables (solar, wind, biomass...) account for 22,000 MW or 25 percent of the total power supply.