Vietnam breaks own record as solar capacity surged in 2020

Its solar installations added 9.3 gigawatts to the national grid.

Vietnam has increased its solar capacity by eight times, with a series of rooftop solar installations adding 9.3GW to its national grid during 2020.

This is much higher than the 378MW it had in 2019. The ASEAN Post noted that of the 9.3GW installed capacity, some 6.0GW worth of installations were built only in December 2020, just before the rooftop feed-in-tariff expired.

In 2019, Vietnam’s installations added 4.5 GW in the national grid in less than two years after the feed-in-tariff launch. The country’s new record makes it the world’s third largest solar market in 2020.

Vietnam now has around 101,000 rooftop solar installations as it attracted investment deals from residential and commercial sectors.

This effort to increase renewable energy source is also in line with the new Power Development Plan 8 draft that showed Vietnam wants renewable energy to dominate the sector up to 2030 and further to 2045.

Under the PDP 8, Vietnam will likely stop new coal-power plants and prevent additional coal-fired plants between 2026-2030. The Asean Post noted 9.5 GW coal projects previously included in the PDP have been removed, whilst a 7.6 GW coal project has been pushed back until after 2030.

Solar and wind is expected to provide 28% of the total system capacity in 2030 and 41% in 2045.

If the renewable energy sector of Vietnam continues to grow, it will contribute largely to ASEAN countries target that 23% of its overall power mix should be renewable by 2025.