Households in Vietnam could receive up to VND3 million ($113.9) in investment capital for solar plus home storage systems installed for their own use, or a preferential loan of up to VND40 million, based on proposals from the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade is proposing a series of financial mechanisms to support the deployment of residential solar and storage installations designed for self-consumption.
The ministry’s draft amendment includes plans to provide households with VDN1 million ($37.97) to VDN1.5 million in investment capital for home solar energy systems without battery storage. An additional VDN 1 to 1.5 million will be available if an electricity storage system is also installed, as long as the minimum capacity of the system is 1 kW solar and 2 kWh storage.
To qualify for the direct support, the household must commit to using the system for at least three years.
The proposal also includes plans for preferential lending, allowing households to borrow up to VDN 40 million at an interest rate of 8.4% per year and a term of 36 months.
Of this amount of 40 million VDN, up to half is available for the installation of solar energy systems, with the borrowing limit being 4 million VDN/1 kW, applicable to systems with a capacity of up to 5 kW.
The remaining 20 million VDN is available for electricity storage system installations, with a borrowing limit of 2 million VDN/1 kWh of storage capacity up to an available 10 kWh, in addition to the solar system loan.
The ministry says local power stations will provide technical guidance on installations and electrification connections, while local authorities at the municipality level will provide guidance on implementation.
The draft proposals also set conditions for the installation of two-way electricity meters, stipulating that households must negotiate with the surplus electricity buyer.
However, Vietnam’s main goal remains to increase the number of solar and storage installations for domestic use. The country’s electricity development strategy aims to have 50% of office buildings and 50% of residential homes using self-produced and self-consumed rooftop solar energy by the end of the decade.
A statement from the ministry emphasized this goal as a way to reduce the load on local power grids and the national transmission system, reduce the investment pressure of state capital and increase the efficiency of residential land use.
According to the ministry’s draft amendment, the proposed financial mechanisms would come into effect from the beginning of 2026 and run until the end of 2030. The draft proposal has been sent to the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice for further review.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Vietnam’s cumulative solar capacity stood at 18.66 GW at the end of last year, with about 79 MW additional in 2024.
Most of the country’s installed solar energy was deployed through an expired feed-in tariff scheme that supported small-scale and utility installations. In September 2024, the government announced a new net metering program for rooftop solar, capping the sale of excess electricity to the grid at 20%, and in April published new feed-in tariffs for utility-scale solar power plants.
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