Manufacturing enterprises can buy electricity directly from renewable energy plants (wind, solar) with or without going through EVN, according to the proposal of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The direct electricity trading mechanism (DDPA) is stated in the draft Decree, consulted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The draft stipulates that the buyer is an organization or individual using electricity produced from a voltage level of 22 kV or higher, with an average monthly consumption of 500.000 kWh. On the supply side are renewable energy plants (wind, solar) connected to the grid, with a capacity of over 10 MW. Households are not allowed to buy or sell directly.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade builds a model of direct electricity trading in two options, including through private lines and the national grid (ie through EVN).
In case organizations and individuals buy electricity directly from a renewable energy plant through a private line, they will not be limited in terms of capacity, output, or connection voltage level. Purchase contract and electricity price will be agreed upon by both parties. The only condition is that the power sources must be in the national electricity development planning, as well as the provincial planning and have an electricity license.
In the form of DDPA sold through the national power grid, the buyer and seller negotiate and agree through a forward contract with a price. Purchase transactions will be carried out through the spot market, operating in accordance with the competitive wholesale electricity market regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
The DDPA mechanism has been repeatedly requested by foreign-invested enterprises for Vietnam to soon pilot, because they believe that this policy will have a positive impact on energy industry competition.
In fact, the DDPA pilot draft was put out for comments by the Ministry of Industry and Trade nearly three years ago, with an initial pilot capacity of 1.000 MW. At that time, many large corporations such as Samsung proposed to participate.
Also in this draft, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that after the initial phase of testing DDPA between households using electricity for production and renewable energy sources, source projects can be expanded to hydropower and biomass. At the same time, non-manufacturing customers, such as businesses, can participate in this mechanism according to their needs and situation of system development and competitive electricity market in Vietnam.
Customers in industrial parks, economic zones, and export processing zones can participate in direct buying and selling after terminating the contract with the retailer.
A survey at the end of last year by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that about 20 large enterprises wanted to buy electricity directly, with a total demand of nearly 1.000 MW. At the same time, there are 24 renewable energy projects with a capacity of 1.773 MW that want to sell electricity through the DPPA mechanism, 17 projects with a capacity of 2.836 MW are considering participating.
