Vietnam Launches Tiered Solar Pricing To Support Grid And Clean Energy Goals

On April 10, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) of Vietnam officially issued Decision No. 988/QD-BCT, approving the electricity price framework applicable to solar power plants and taking effect on the same day. The new policy introduces a differentiated electricity pricing mechanism, synchronously implements energy storage incentive plans, optimizes the layout of renewable energy nationwide through market-oriented resource allocation mechanisms, and provides institutional guarantees for achieving the clean energy goals of the 8th edition of the National Power Plan (PDP8).

Core content of the new policy

Constructing a new differentiated pricing system with three dimensions

The new pricing mechanism establishes a triple pricing system of "technology type+geographical location+energy storage configuration", creating a new pattern of solar electricity pricing policy in Vietnam.

At the technical level, considering the generally high construction costs of floating photovoltaic projects, their pricing is higher than that of ground photovoltaic projects.

At the geographical level, implement north-south gradient pricing (northern>central>southern), and balance resource differences through price compensation mechanisms. The previous unified FiT led to an excessive concentration of photovoltaic projects in the southern regions with optimal lighting resources (such as Ningshun Province), causing local power grid overload problems. The new mechanism aims to solve the dilemma of overloading in the southern power grid and power shortage in the north by offering higher electricity prices to the north, and promote the optimal allocation of national power resources.

At the level of energy storage configuration, the new mechanism for the first time includes battery energy storage systems in the scope of grid electricity price subsidies, encouraging the application of energy storage technology through price leverage, effectively addressing the intermittent problem of solar power generation, and improving energy supply stability. Eligible projects must have an energy storage capacity of at least 10% of the installed capacity of the solar power plant, a charging and discharging time of at least 2 hours, and use 5% of the generated electricity for energy storage and charging.