Vietnam Plans To Significantly Reduce Solar Installations, Give Way To Wind Energy

Vietnam's planned solar capacity is "too high" and needs to be lowered, according to a government communiqué, according to local Vietnamese media.

According to the reports, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said the solar capacity target specified in Vietnam's 2021-2030 Power Development Master Plan VIII was "too high" and should be lowered to make room for more wind power. The current solar capacity target is around 18.4GW.

The country's Power Development Master Plan VIII covers 2021-2030 and also includes a "Vision to 2045". Released in February last year, the plan has undergone several revisions.

Solar PV projects in Vietnam have been plagued by grid connection and curtailment issues

For example, in the October revision, the renewable energy capacity target was slashed. The 2025 solar capacity target was revised down from the upper end of the forecast of 26,240MW in the original draft to 18,040MW in the revised version.

After experiencing rapid growth in solar development, Vietnam's rooftop solar capacity exceeded 9GW in 2020, of which about 6GW was installed in December alone. Vietnam has been facing serious power rationing problems, and many projects are still struggling to connect to the grid.

In January, consultancy AqualisBraemar LOC Group (ABL Group) was hired to conduct a feasibility study to explore the potential of co-located battery energy storage systems (BESS) across multiple PV plants when rationing issues arise.

Meanwhile, a 500 million monocrystalline silicon ingot and wafer fab in Vietnam built by "Silicon Module Super League" (SMSL) member JinkoSolar is expected to come online this quarter.

We reached out to Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade for comment, but had not heard back by press time.