Vietnam To Accelerate Renewables Deployment With $15.5 Billion Deal

The Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) has agreed to support Vietnam's green energy transition and mobilize $15.5 billion in public and private funding to support over the next three to five years. The partnership will work on a range of targets, including accelerating the development of renewable energy, driving it to 47% of Vietnam's electricity generation by 2030 instead of the currently planned 36%, and reducing peak coal capacity from a planned 37GW to 30.2GW. Over the next 12 months, partner countries will work with Vietnam to develop and adopt a JETP resource mobilization plan that will enable funding is implemented.

According to Vietnam's latest draft PDP VIII, which was released in November 2022, no solar capacity will be added for ten years. Given the challenges associated with the rapid deployment of solar energy in Vietnam over the past two years, the government has no intention of adding more solar deployment.

Over the past three years, Vietnam has experienced tremendous growth in solar and wind energy, with projects concentrated in the central and southern regions due to increased resource utilization. While wind and solar projects in the central and southern regions are facing cutbacks, the northern region is facing concerns about power supply shortages.

PV installation in Vietnam was booming in 2019 and 2020. About 10GW of rooftop PV capacity was installed in Vietnam in 2020, while 7GW was added in December, up 705.9% from November. The installation volume in December alone exceeds that of the whole year 2019. The installation rush is mainly driven by the expiration of FiT2 at the end of 2020. The government cut the PV incentives, as Vietnam’s power grid was overwhelmed after the booming PV deployment, leading to low installations in the following years.