Business trip of German solar energy companies to Ho Chi Minh City offers the opportunity for German and Vietnamese solar power companies to build up partnerships, also to boost investments and project implementation in the sector.

Supported by the “energy solutions – Made in Germany” initiative by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in Vietnam (AHK Vietnam) with the support of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is organising a business trip for six German companies of the solar energy sector to explore the potential of the Vietnamese solar photovoltaic (PV) market with a special focus on solar PV rooftop investments in the commercial and industrial sector. During the one-week trip, the companies have the opportunity to meet with various local companies as well as with public authorities and potential investors from the commercial and industrial sector of Vietnam. Participants in the business trip comprise all aspects of the solar PV power value chain, including IBC Solar AG, M+W Group GmbH, Droege Energy GmbH, CARERA Solar/Hydro UG, ILF Consulting Engineers GmbH and Syntegra Solar International AG.

Starting with a one-day conference on September 12^th ‘Photovoltaics in Vietnam: Free-Field and Net Metering before Breakthrough’, German companies will have the opportunity to learn and discuss about solar PV investment opportunities in Vietnam and to present their products and services to approx. 150 Vietnamese companies and participants. Bilateral meetings will subsequently connect German with local companies and investors to discuss opportunities for joint business. A site visit to DBW Garment Factory, one of the latest commercial PV rooftop projects and a best-practice example of German solar PV technology in Vietnam, rounds up the week.

The conference will release a newly conducted assessment of investment opportunities in Vietnam presenting six detailed solar PV rooftop case studies. The results indicate that the emerging solar market of Vietnam offers attractive business opportunities for German solar companies. Peter Cattelaens, Deputy Programme Director of the GIZ Energy Support Programme in Vietnam, summarizes: “German companies in the solar PV sector can now seize a number of attractive business opportunities along the value chain. Project developers, sales and operation managers, suppliers, engineers and planning consultants will be required in the very close future to invigorate the growth of the Vietnamese solar PV market.”

The potential for development of solar energy in Vietnam is huge. Solar resources are expansive with an average solar irradiation of 4-5 kWh/m²/day in most regions of Southern and Central Vietnam and make the country comparable to developed solar markets in the region – including China, Thailand or the Philippines – as well as to mature international solar markets, such as Spain and Italy.

The Vietnamese Government has recognized this potential and aims to significantly increase its renewable energy production including the share of solar power. Solar PV power generation capacities shall increase from currently around 7 Megawatt (MW) by the mid of 2016 to 850 MW by 2020, 4,000 MW by 2025 and 12,000 GW by 2030. To reach these targets the Government is currently preparing a solar PV support legislation. First drafts released in 2015 and developed further in the first half of 2016 include a feed-in tariff of 11.2 USct/kWh for large-scale grid-connected free-field PV power plants as well as a net metering credit for excess solar power fed into the grid of 15 USct/kWh for rooftop systems. In addition, there are supplementary instruments in preparation, such as import tax exemptions, land incentives and corporate income tax reductions incentivizing the development of the sector. Moreover, first provincial authorities such as the southern metropole Ho Chi Minh City have implemented pilot projects and financial support measures to develop solar energy on the local level. In the last years there have been around 7 MW of PV capacity installed in Vietnam, whereof around 2 MW on rooftops. Around half of this PV rooftop capacity has been installed within the last year with the tailwind of the new political support for solar energy on the federal and provincial level. Furthermore, there are more than 500 MW of free-field PV investment projects under planning, first projects have already ground-broken.

The “energy solutions – Made in Germany” initiative by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) is supporting the development of PV rooftop investments in the Vietnamese commercial sector in particular and fosters business exchange with the German solar industry.