Consideration should be given to removing tax obstacles for rooftop solar energy projects
The Seminar was co-organized by the Vietnam Sustainable Energy Alliance (VSEA) and the Climate Change Working Group (CCWG) within the framework of Vietnam Renewable Energy Week 2018.
Mr. Nguyen Ninh Hai, Deputy Head of the Renewable Energy Department under the Electricity and Renewable Energy Agency of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said that after more than a year of implementation, the Prime Minister's Decision No. 11/2017/QD-TTg on mechanism for encouragement of development of solar power projects in Vietnam (referred to as Decision No. 11) and Circular No. 16/2017/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on project development and standard power purchase agreement applied to solar power projects (referred to as Circular No. 16) has created a "momentum" for the solar power market in Vietnam. In particular, the mechanism for large scale solar power projects is attractive to investors.
As of June 18, 2018, 100 large scale solar farm projects had been added to national / provincial power development master plans. In which, the total registered capacity is 4.7 GW by 2020 and an additional 1.77 GW after 2020.
Regarding rooftop solar power projects, by the end of July 2018, 748 projects have been implemented nationwide, with a total capacity of 11.55 MWp.
Despite positive signals, the deployment of solar power projects has encountered some obstacles relating to connection procedures; inconsistence with tax regulations when selling back excess output of rooftop solar power projects to the grid; or certification for inverters, etc.
Many participants and experts viewed that these obstacles should be removed soon, only then would it create a driving force for a robust solar power development in Vietnam.
At present, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is considering submission to the Government a revision of Feed-in Tariff applicable to solar power projects after June 2016; a distinctive bidding scheme and standard power purchase agreement for solar power projects. At the same time, the Ministry will request the Government’s consideration and revision of Decision No. 11 to deal with tax issues for rooftop solar projects.