Vietnam to consider direct power purchase agreement for renewable energy

HANOI (Bernama-Xinhua): Vietnam will consider a direct power purchase agreement (DPPA) mechanism between renewable power generators and large electricity users without going through its state utility EVN, reported Xinhua quoting local media on Friday.

If approved, the buying and selling of electricity would be conducted through a private transmission line invested by the private sector, local newspaper Vietnam News reported, citing the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

With this option, the purchasing and selling of electricity would not be limited in terms of capacity, output, connection voltage level, and electricity use purpose. The power generators would be responsible for investing in the construction of power projects in line with the power development planning.

The DPPA mechanism would help ease the burden on EVN in investing in power generation and transmission while encouraging the participation of the private sector in the power industry, the newspaper cited experts.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has earlier rolled out a draft DPPA pilot scheme for reference, with a limit of 1,000 MW, in which many major international companies said they wanted to participate. - Bernama-Xinhua