HCM City (VNA) - With the Government releasing the policy todevelop the solar energy industry, it is poised for a boom, a workshop heard inHCM City on September 18.

“The Vietnamese solar energy market has become very active after the firstlegislation for solar power development, Decision 11, was passed in April2017,” Tran Quoc Dien, director of planning and business development at thePower Engineering Consulting Joint Stock Company 3, told the first German SolarTraining workshop.

Simon Bittner, business development advisor to the German Agency forInternational Cooperation’s Project Development Programme (PDP), said, “We aimto help Vietnamese enterprises benefit from the expertise of German companiesin developing and applying solar photovoltaic technologies and provide aplatform for transfer of technology and know-how and facilitate partnershipsbetween German and Vietnamese companies.”

Under the German Energy Solutions Initiative, PDP aims to support thedevelopment and execution of pilot projects using innovative renewable energysolutions and energy efficiency technologies as a feasible alternative toconventional power generation in developing and emerging countries by providingmarket information, building capacity of local actors and facilitating businesspartnerships and exchange of experience and expertise between German and localcompanies.

Around 50 project developers and executives from engineering services companiesin the solar sector took part in the three-day training programme.

Participants were told about various aspects of the development and operationof a solar photovoltaic project, including system components, feasibilitystudy, tendering and procurement, commissioning, operation and maintenance aswell as rooftop self-generation application for the industrial and commercialsectors.

The training, by professionals from six German companies, not only focuses onfundamental knowledge but also provides practical experience.

Decision 11 sets the tariff for both utility-scale solar projects and rooftopnet-metering remuneration scheme at 9.35 cents/kWh.

The decision underlines the Government’s commitment to tapping the country’svast solar power potential and to meet solar power targets of 850 MW installedcapacity by 2020, 4GW by 2025 and 12GW by 2030.

It establishes a conducive legal framework for attracting private investment inthe most two promising solar PV segments in Vietnam: utility-scale projects androoftop applications.

There are a number of large solar projects in the pipeline already.

There is high demand among local developers and investors for internationalpartnerships since it enables transfer of knowledge and engineering expertise.-VNA