A floating solar plant in the south central province of Binh Thuan. (Photo: VNA) Investors said they had submitted documents and requested toparticipate in negotiations with the Power Trading Company. The process hadbeen said to be very slow due to a lack of guidelines and price calculationsand negotiations.
In addition, numerous submitted forms and documents had not beenapproved.
In order to expedite the process and quickly connect renewable energysources to the national grid, investors urged Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh toinstruct the Ministry of Industry and Trade to issue detailed guidelines forprice negotiations in a timely manner.
They also called for renewable projects that meet operational andtechnical requirements to be connected to the national grid in the meantime.
According to a proposal by the investors, there are severalcourses of action to resolve the ongoing issues.
First, EVN will pay investors at 90% of the ceiling price set bythe ministry's Decision 21 until a final price can be successfully negotiated.
Second, EVN will pay investors at 50% of the ceiling price set byGovernment Decision 21 and start a complaint process. Once price negotiation iscompleted, EVN will make a full payment at negotiated prices for the entireperiod, starting from when projects began generating power.
Third, in the event temporary prices are set as low as 50% of theceiling price, it should not be counted towards the 20-year official powerpurchase agreement between EVN and the investors.
Investors said they recommend a government leader preside over ameeting among the MoIT, EVN, other ministries and representatives sent byinvestors to hammer out a solution to connect renewable projects to thenational grid as soon as possible.
According to the investors, the options were based on actualinvestment cost data, the situation of the projects and the investors'financial capacity. They are also willing to collaborate and coordinate withthe ministry and other governmental agencies to produce and provide any and alldocuments required for price negotiations.
MoIT's Decision 21 stipulated ceiling prices for renewableprojects as follows: 1,184.90 VND per kWh for land-based solar projects, 1,508.27VND per kWh for floating solar projects, 1,587.12 VND per kWh for land-basedwind projects and 1,815.95 VND per kWh for offshore wind projects.
In an earlier development, EVN proposed a scheme to pay investorsa temporary price at 50% of what was set in Decision 21 while waiting for pricenegotiations to be completed.
In response, the group of investors said in the event of norecourse and deduction from the Power Purchase Agreement the proposed temporaryprice will, in effect, act as the official price, which is completely againstthe government's policy of promoting renewable energy development and thegovernment's commitments to carbon emissions reduction through renewable energydevelopment./.
VNA
