Ministry of Industry and Trade: EVN must agree on electricity purchase prices for transitional renewable energy projects before March 31

The Ministry of Industry and Trade requested EVN to urgently coordinate with investors of wind and solar power plants to negotiate and agree on electricity prices before March 31, 2023, so that the plants can be put into operation soon. Illustrative photo

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has just sent a document to EVN regarding the agreement on electricity prices with transitional solar and wind power plants.

Unified electricity price before March 31

The document stated that on January 7, 2023, the Minister of Industry and Trade signed and issued Decision No. 21/QD-BCT stipulating the transitional price framework for electricity generation of solar and wind power plants.

On January 9, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Document No. 107/BCT-DTĐL requesting Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) and investors of solar and wind power plants to urgently coordinate and negotiate and agree on electricity generation prices to ensure they do not exceed the electricity generation price framework issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

On March 2, 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade issued Document No. 1094/BCT-DTĐL guiding EVN to base on the provisions of the Electricity Law and the relevant contents of transitional solar and wind power plants to negotiate and agree on electricity generation prices.

Based on the above instructions, the Ministry of Industry and Trade requests EVN to urgently coordinate with investors of wind and solar power plants to negotiate and agree on electricity prices before March 31, 2023 to put the plants into operation soon, avoiding wasting resources.

Waste of invested resources

Currently, there are 84 renewable energy projects (capacity of more than 4,676 MW) that are behind schedule in commercial operation compared to the plan.

Of these, 34 transitional projects (28 wind power projects, 6 solar power projects) with a total capacity of nearly 2,091 MW have completed construction and testing. These projects are not entitled to the fixed preferential electricity price (FIT price) for 20 years according to previous decisions.

In a recent document sent to the Prime Minister, 36 wind and solar power investors said that of the 34 projects that have completed construction investment alone, the total estimated investment capital is nearly 85 trillion VND, of which over 58 trillion VND is funded from bank capital.

In the meeting on March 20 between the Ministry of Industry and Trade, EVN and 84 wind and solar power investors, the investors proposed that EVN mobilize electricity at a provisional price of 6.2 cents/kWh. In addition, the project should be allowed to complete construction investment, accept acceptance, be energized and have its output recorded.

According to Decision 21 regulating the price framework for transitional solar and wind power plants issued by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the ceiling price for transitional solar power projects is 1,185-1,508 VND per kWh and wind power is 1,587-1,816 VND per kWh, depending on the type.