Update: 18.05.2025
Vietnam is a country with great potential in developing renewable energy, especially solar power, towards ensuring national energy security and ensuring the implementation of environmental commitments, in addition to fossil energy sources that are gradually being replaced. In particular, a prominent energy source in solar power development is the self-produced rooftop solar power system serving people’s lives and industry. Being aware of the potential and benefits of this new energy development direction, the State has promptly issued policies to create a legal framework and incentive mechanism for the development of this type of energy. The following article will focus on analyzing the policies for developing self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power in order to make appropriate assessments in the context of the increasing demand and role of solar power in Vietnam’s economy.
Implementing the directions of the Prime Minister, the Head of the Steering Committee and members of the Committee have proactively carried out the assigned tasks. Ministries, branches and localities have achieved a number of important results. Notably, the completion of the National Power Development Plan for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2045 (“Power Plan VIII”) is a highlight. In particular, Power Plan VIII sets a target of striving for 50% of office buildings and 50% of houses to use self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power by 2030 (serving on-site consumption, not selling electricity to the national power system). According to the State, this is a suitable energy source with potential for expansion, so it is necessary to prioritize and encourage the development of self-produced and self-consumed solar power (including rooftop solar power of people and construction works, solar power at production and business establishments, on-site consumption, with or without registration to sell electricity to the national grid).
Thus, it can be seen that the State and Government are very sympathetic and supportive of the continued development of rooftop solar power, self-production and self-consumption to contribute to serving people’s needs as well as providing electricity for consumption and production industries. Since then, many new policies and legal regulations regulating the above issue have been issued to soon realize international commitments and the Party and Government’s guidelines on national energy security, including the development of self-production and self-consumption solar power into life.
I. LEGAL BASIS
- Decree 58/2025/ND-CP of the Government issued on March 3, 2025 detailing a number of articles of the Law on Electricity regarding the development of renewable energy and new energy electricity (“Decree 58/2025/ND-CP”);
- Decision 429/QD-EVN of Vietnam Electricity (EVN) dated March 27, 2025(“Decision 429/QD-EVN”).
II. NEW POLICY ON DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-PRODUCED, SELF-CONSUMPTION ROOF SOLAR POWER
1. Policy to encourage development
In recent years, via timely and flexible policies, Vietnam has become an attractive destination for investors and large energy corporations in the world wishing to develop solar power projects, including corporations that own self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar power production technologies.
To facilitate synchronous development, the Government has issued Decree 58/2025/ND-CP stipulating two main policies in encouraging the development of the above type of energy, which are:
Firstly, construction works must comply with legal regulations on investment, construction, land, environmental protection, safety, and fire prevention and fighting and be equipped with rooftop solar power in the form of self-production and self-consumption.
Secondly, households using individual houses to develop power sources with a capacity of less than 100 kW and sell surplus electricity to the national power system are exempted from or do not have to adjust their Household Registration Certificate.
Thus, the subjects allowed to access and install rooftop solar power systems are those that have fully ensured regulations on fire prevention, land, environment, etc. It is also necessary to know that rooftop solar power systems are not a combination of simple, easy-to-install electrical equipment, but they also pose many risks regarding electrical safety and fire and explosion on installation site. Therefore, the State must still set requirements for fire prevention, environment or land before allowing individuals and organizations to install the system. Not only that, the use of this self-produced and self-consumed electricity output with a small-capacity power system does not require changing the business scope of business households. This is a commitment in the process of simplifying administrative procedures, not allowing additional legal procedures to arise, hindering people from participating in the process of developing rooftop solar power.
2. Mechanism for buying and selling surplus electricity
According to the above analysis, the State still allows people to sell surplus electricity to the national power system. To do that, entities selling self-produced rooftop solar power must comply with the basic requirements in Article 14 of Decree 58/2025/ND-CP. Specifically, Article 14 stipulates the mechanism for buying and selling surplus electricity from rooftop solar power systems. Subjects allowed to sell surplus electricity include: (a) rooftop solar power systems connected to the national grid in accordance with provincial power planning; (b) systems with a capacity of less than 100 kW installed on individual houses; and (c) systems in mountainous, border, and island areas with a grid but not yet connected to the national power system; at the same time, eliminating the power source from the solar power system at the project as public establishment. It can be seen easily that the subjects allowed to sell electricity to the national grid are relatively broad, covering from plains to mountainous areas, remote islands, in order to expand development space, create conditions to attract investment and apply new technologies for electricity sellers to apply to their solar power systems.
The process of selling surplus electricity will be carried out with the local Power Unit according to Article 6 of Decision 429/QD-EVN dated March 27, 2025 of Vietnam Electricity. Accordingly, the Power Unit will check the registration documents of the electricity seller and conduct the acceptance inspection of the power system and if completed, the power purchase contract will be signed. On the contrary, if the documents do not meet the requirements or the system does not meet the acceptance quality, the Power Unit can refuse and report to the local Department of Industry and Trade.
Except for some special cases, the surplus electricity sold shall not exceed 20% of the monthly electricity output (calculated according to the formula Ai = PVout(i) x Plđ). Payment shall be made according to the agreement: if the surplus electricity sent to the grid exceeds 20% of Ai, only 20% of Ai shall be paid; if less, the entire measured amount shall be paid.
The purchase price is the average market electricity price of the previous year, not exceeding the maximum price of ground-mounted solar power. Areas without national grid power can sell all surplus output to the grid until the area is supplied with electricity from the national grid. The sale of surplus electricity requires an electricity business license, unless exempted by regulations.
3. Procedures for notification and registration of power source development
In addition to the highlights analyzed above, Decree 58/2025/ND-CP also stipulates specific legal procedures and documents for rooftop solar power development.
In particular, Article 15 stipulates the notification of rooftop solar power development. Households with a capacity of less than 100 kW connected to the national grid must send a Notification (Form 01) to the local Department of Industry and Trade, the electricity unit and relevant authorities. Organizations and individuals with a capacity of less than 1,000 kW that do not sell surplus electricity must also send a Notification (Form 02).
In addition, Article 16 defines the subjects that must register for development and the authority to issue the Certificate of registration for power source development. The subjects that are allowed include: Organizations and individuals developing power sources of 1,000 kW or more; Organizations and individuals developing sources of less than 1,000 kW but need to issue a certificate or register to sell surplus electricity; Organizations and individuals developing power sources of less than 1,000 kW registering to sell surplus electricity to the grid of the surplus electricity buyer (except for households with capacity less than 100 kW). The certificate is issued by the Department of Industry and Trade when the application is full and there is confirmation from the electricity unit that the grid does not cause overloaded.
Power development entities applying for a Power Source Development Registration Certificate must complete the application according to Clause 1, Article 17 of Decree 58/2025/ND-CP and submit it to the local Department of Industry and Trade. If the application is complete, the Department of Industry and Trade will send it to the power unit for comments within 3 days. Within 10 days from the date of receiving the complete application, the Department of Industry and Trade will issue a Power Source Development Registration Certificate or notify the reason for refusal.
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