Renewable energy developers want temporary buying price of 6 cents per kWh

The price is equivalent to 90% of that of imported energy, representatives of solar and energy developers said at a meeting Monday.

“The price is temporary and could be adjusted later when the legal framework on this matter is completed,” said Nguyen Thanh Binh, deputy CEO of T&T Corp.

Some developers have been waiting for two years for the new feed-in tariff to be announced, but as it is too low, they are concerned about bankruptcy, she said.

“My wind turbines, each of which costs more than VND150 billion ($6.36 million), have been standing still for the last year,” Binh said.

The 6.2 cents per kilowatt-hour price tag is lower than that of coal-fired energy, as last year there were times when the price of coal-fired energy surged to 15-17 cents per kilowatt-hour, a representative of Thai energy firm GULF said.

There are 84 renewable projects in Vietnam with a total capacity of over 4,676 megawatts per hour that will be under the new feed-in tariff. Among them 34 have been completed.

As of Monday only one developer had requested an energy-selling contract with Vietnam Electricity (EVN), as the remaining developers were not interested in the low price that EVN had offered earlier.

Do Van Binh, CEO of developer Ocean Group, said that the lack of guidelines and regulations on renewable energy makes it difficult for developers to sign deals with EVN.

EVN CEO Tran Dinh Nhan urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to quickly announce an algorithm to determine a new feed-in tariff.