Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies

Photovoltaic technology and solar energy

development in Viet Nam

Trinh Qung Dung

Viet Nam has potential solar energy for sustainable development. The year-round high
solar radiation of 5.2 kWh/m2 per day is a basic factor to develop solar electricity on an
industrial scale for Viet Nam. New technologies not only allow solar electricity produced
to be fed to the grid, but also guarantee sustainable local power supply at low prices. In
the face of increasing demand and market for power, exploitation of Viet Nam’ renewable
energy sources is very urgent. A mega solar programme for long-term sustainable energy
development is under preparation, and it will be submitted for the government’s approval,
after discussion in a Joint Ministerial Meeting.

Solar radiation (TOE) per year. Figure 1 shows the

average total solar radiation in Hanoi,
in Viet Nam Danang and Ho Chi Minh (HCM) city,
olar radiation is a very important which are typical for the northern, mid-

S natural resource in Viet Nam. At

Mr. Trinh Qung Dung
Director, Solarlab-Institute of
Physics, HCM City
Vietnamese Academy of Science
and Technology
01 Mac Dinh Chi Street, 01 District,
HCM City, Viet Nam
Tel: +84 (8) 3822 2028
Fax: +84 (8) 3829 5905
E-mails: trinhqdungvn@yahoo.com
solarlab@hcmc.netnam.vn
an average total solar radiation
of about 5 kW/h/m2/day in most of the
middle and the southern provinces
and about 4 kW/h/m2/day in the north-
ern provinces, solar radiation is better
in Viet Nam than in most other parts
of the world (Dung, 2005). Below the
17th parallel, the radiation is not only
plentiful but also steady for most part
of the year, reducing about 20 per cent
from dry season to rainy season.1 The
solar energy potential is estimated at
43.9 billon tonnes of oil equivalent
1
In North Viet Nam, the solar radiation is
not continuous in winter and autumn.
dle and southern regions of Viet Nam.
The average solar radiation is better
in the middle and southern regions.
The northern provinces receive poor
sunshine in the first quarter of the year;
there are only two hours or less of sun-
shine during January, February and
March and the average solar radiation
is 50-60 per cent less. The average
sunshine hours per year in the North-
eastern zone range between 1,500
and 1,700 hours, while the Southern
and Central Viet Nam clocks between
2,000 and 2,600 sunshine hours per
year. These data, measured over a
period of 10 years, were taken from
the weather station at HCM City.

TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009 29

Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies

Figure 1: Solar radiation in the north, middle and south of Viet Nam were provided solar electricity at their
homes (Dung, 2003). The cultural-
7 cum-battery charging centre (CBCC)
is a typical Vietnamese innovation,
Solar radiation (kWh/m 2/day)

6 which has shown 20 per cent more

efficiency than other similar installa-
5
tions in the region. Each CBCC is de-
4 signed to produce 300-1,500 Wp per
station, and a 1,000 Wp CBCC can
3 provide electricity for 40-50 houses.
Ho Chi Minh city
From 1990 up to the present, more
Hanoi
2 than 1,000 families have started using
Danang
solar electricity from the CBCC. In the
1 night, a CBCC doubles as a local
cultural centre for viewing television
0 programmes and video movies, and
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
for Karaoke singing. This is a new
Months and highly effective model of PV use
Figure 2: Development of photovoltaics in Viet Nam (1989-2008) invented by Viet Nam’s Solarlab (Dung
and others, 2003).
240 In 1999, thanks to the cooperation
Photovoltaic capacity (kWp)

between New Energy and Industrial

200 Technology Development Organiza-
tion (NEDO) of Japan and the Ministry
160 of Science, Technology and Environ-
ment (MOSTE) of Viet Nam, the first
120
solar power plant was installed at the
Muang Giang district of Gialai pro-
80
vince in Central Viet Nam. The plant
40 is a hybrid renewable energy model,
with 100 kWp of solar power and 25
0 kW of micro hydropower. It is the first
solar plant in Viet Nam and South-East
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008

Asia working for a local grid. The big-

gest solar installation is the National
Years
Conference Hall, with 154 kWp of solar
power using grid-connected technol-
Renewable energy status as SHS, BCC, medical and commu- ogy, financed by Germany’s official
nity centres, solar ambulance, satel- development assistance (ODA). Red
and development need lite receiver-transmitter, etc. – have Sun, the first factory to manufacture
been designed and developed in Viet PV modules, was opened in March
Present situation Nam. During 20 years of development, 2009 at Long An province. Its annual
A general view of the development of about 70 solar villages, 30 BCCs, capacity is about 3-5 MWp. Only five
photovoltaic (PV) installations in Viet thousands of navigation beacons, companies in Viet Nam are doing busi-
Nam in the last decade can be seen several telecommunication stations ness in the PV field: too meagre a
in Figure 2 and Table 1. PV develop- and more than 4,000 SHS have been number considering the solar energy
ment has been realized in applications installed across the country. potential of the country.
such as battery charging centre, com- Among civil applications, SHS is The main Vietnamese partners for
munity centre, telecommunications, the most basic; it started in 1990 and international collaboration until now
satellite receiver-transmitter, naviga- gradually developed. Its growth is are Solarlab, Institute of Energy (IE),
tion beacons, etc. spurred by government-sponsored PV Renewable Energy Research Centre
Following several national and in- projects as well as private installa- (RERC) and Women’s Union. Coop-
ternational projects, most of the civil tions (Dung, 2008). The demand for eration has been established with
use of PV is in solar villages, which SHS is very large, covering over 5 NEDO of Japan, Fondation Energies
have in solar home systems (SHS), million farming families, which could pour le Monde (FONDEM) of France,
covered community centres, battery not be connected to the grid for a long Swedish International Development
charging centres (BCC), cultural halls, time. An SHS project was the first 100 Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Nord-
schools, medical centres, etc. Almost per cent electrified village in Viet Nam, rhein-Westfalen (NRW) of Germany,
all models of PV applications – such in Buon Cham, wherein 180 families Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) of

30 TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009

 Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies

Table 1: Development of photovoltaic applications in Viet Nam

Year Photovoltaic application Number Installed Total capacity

capacity (Wp) (KWp)
1989-2008 Solar home system 4,000 22-100 314,010
1989-2008 Public systems 152 100-300 30,394
1989-2008 Medical centre 24 150-300 3,450
1990-2008 Telecommunication systems 2,000 500-3,000 1,000,000
1996-2000 Radio telephone 2 75-100 0,175
1995-2008 Forest guard station 90 100-1,000 32,000
1989-2008 Cultural & battery charging centre 80 300-3,200 52,000
1990-2008 Navigation beacon 1,300 50-150 45,000
1995-2008 Satellite receiver 50 500-4,000 100,000
2000-2003 Solar boat 2 250-640 0,890
2002-2006 Solar power plant 2 100-154 254,000
2005-2008 Solar villa/house roof 7 1,000-4,000 11,200
1999-2008 Solar school 23 200-1,000 12,250
1989-2008 Street lamps 200 50-160 50,000
2001 Solar ambulance 1 500 0,500
1990-2008 Water pumping 3 100-500 1,900
1989-2008 National park 12 200-1,000 5,000
1989-2008 Solar lantern 42 10-200 3,3.56
2004-2008 Public lighting 100 50-200 8,000
TOTAL 8,090 2,407,175
Source: Dung, 2009a

the United States, Korea Institute of PV research at the Semiconductor-

Energy Research (KIER) of the Repub-
lic of Korea, Atersa of Spain, and some
other institutions from the European
Union countries. Total international
investment on PV in Viet Nam was
about US$50 million (Table 2). Inter-
national cooperation has been a major
catalyst, spurring renewable energy
development, promoting local technol-
ogy and building up human resource
skills in Viet Nam. The Government of
Viet Nam has always provided budg-
etary support of up to 30 per cent for
such cooperation activities.
Government policy
and Master Plan VI
A government policy on renewable
energy is taking shape in Viet Nam
at present. The government plans to
increase budget for renewable energy
projects in rural areas and establish
a renewable energy fund for invest-
ment support. It is already supporting
Nano Laboratory in the high-tech park
at HCM city (US$11 million) and the
semiconductor laboratory of the Na-
tional University (US$5 million). The
government supports transfer of the
latest PV technologies to Viet Nam,
and encourages foreign investment
for local PV manufacture.
At the present, import is duty-free
for solar modules and for all solar pro-
jects. The government is encouraging Solar ambulance
banks to provide investment capital
for PV industries. On other hand, the
government has decided to use ODA
fund for developing grid-connected
solar plant and large solar power
projects. During 2009-2012 about 3-
5 MWp of PV power will be added
using ODA from Japan. In July 2007,
the Vietnamese government approved
Master Plan VI, which envisages rural
electrification using renewable energy.
Viet Nam generates 68,699 GWh
of electricity and consumes 57,366 Cultural-cum-battery charging centre

TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009 31

Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies

Table 2: International projects and total investments on PV in Viet Nam

Photovoltaic project Sponsor Implementing Budget (US$) Years

organization
Energy solidarity Fondem, France & Solarlab 1,000,000 1989-2000
Vietnam - France Dostes, Viet Nam
Solar lighting for Women by SHS SELF, United States Wu - Solarlab 150,000 1995-1998
RET’s PV Project SIDA, Sweden Solarlab 170,000 1997-2004
RET’s Biomass Briquetting SIDA, Sweden IE 170,000 1997-2004
Solar Hybrid Plant NEDO, Japan & Fuji Electric 3,500,000 1999-2002
MOST, Viet Nam
Decentralized Energy for Fondem, France & Solarlab 1,200,000 2000-2003
Rural Development DI, Viet Nam
Solar Electricity NRW, Germany & Solarlab, RERC 200,000 2001-2002
Viet Nam-Germany MOSTE, Viet Nam
Solar Village KIER, Rep. of Korea Solarlab 80,000 2002-2005
Viet Nam-Republic of Korea & Solarlab, Viet Nam
National Conference Hall Viet Nam & Germany Lilama 2,000,000 -2006
Rural electrification SIDA, Sweden & Ha giang, Quang Nam unknown 2005-2008
MOIT, Viet Nam provinces
Semiconductor Lab National University, University of 5,000,000 2004-2006
HCM City Natural Science
Semiconductor Nano-Lab HCM City High Tech Park 11,000,000 2006-2008
Rural electrification Atersa, Spain & Solarlab-VAST 200,000 2006-2009
MOST, Viet Nam
PV plant 28 KWp at Cham island SIDA, Sweden & DOIT, 600,000 2008-2010
MOIT, Viet Nam Quang Nam province
Grid-connected PV Japan’s ODA Japanese companies 15,000,000 2009-2010
Others CDG, CORE, Solarlab, IE, RERC, 3,200,000 1995-2010
World Bank, etc. CODEV, etc.
TOTAL 50,000,000 1989-2010
Collected by Solarlab from different sources (2009)

GWh annually. The growth in the rate Figure 3: The structure of energy balance of Viet Nam by 2015
of consumption is about 15-20 per
cent per year and the country will
need to import energy beyond 2010 4.9% 3.0% Renewable
(Figure 3). The energy sharing pat- Imported
energy
tern is: industry 49.9 per cent; civil electricity
32.0%
and services 41.0 per cent; agricul- 31.6%
ture 0.97 per cent; and others 9.0 per
cent. 28.5%
According the Master Plan VI, re-
newable energy in Viet Nam is envi-
sioned to develop in two stages to
reach the total of 4,050 MW by 2025: Hydro
2015 MW during the period 2006- power
2015; and 2026 MW during the period
2015-2020. Rural households are Gas power
expected to be electrified by 2020 Thermal power
using renewable energy sources.

32 TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009


Figure 4: The block diagram for Madicub
Grid
Wind
Diesel generator
Hydroelectric
Photovoltaic technology
in Viet Nam
Since 1975, PV has been studied at
the Centre of Physics, HCM City, of the
Viet Nam Academy of Science. The
first solar cell was made in 1976 on
monosilicon crystal of 5 cm diameter.
During 20 years of research, different
types of solar cells – such as thin film
solar cell, mono-silicon solar cell (η
=13 per cent), polysilicon solar cell
(η = 12 per cent) and amorphous sili-
con solar cell (η = 7 per cent) – have
been developed at Solarlab, the Viet
Nam Academy of Science & Technol-
ogy. In 2000, the first prototype solar
module has been developed to inter-
national quality standard (Dung, 2005).
PV energy saving technology
A photovoltaic energy saving technol-
ogy (PVEST) has been researched
and developed for improving the ef-
ficiency of PV systems (Dung, 2008).
All kinds of PV equipment – such as
solar regulator, true sine inverter and
DC compact energy-saving lamps –
have been manufactured in Viet Nam.
Except for the solar module, 80 per
cent of PV equipment are provided by
local manufacturers. Most of them
still follow analog technology, with
only a small part utilizing digital tech-
nology for monitoring and manage-
ment systems.
True sine inverters up to 10 kVA
and solar chargers with 10-12 chan-
nels have been developed. In a joint
venture with SPI GmbH of Germany,
Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies
solar generators have been manu-
factured under the brand of ‘Smart
Green Power’ and exported to Africa,
Europe, Iran, etc. In general, the PV
equipment technology is well devel-
oped in Viet Nam, and it can well serve
the domestic market with competitive
price and quality. Three years ago,
Solarlab had successfully designed
Madicub, an integrated solar-local grid
managing system suitable for expand-
ing PV power anywhere, any time. This
mode is being further developed for
rural electrification, as a “mini solar
power plant”, in the range of a few
kWp up to little less than 100 kWp.
Figure 4 shows the block diagram.
The integrated system is designed
on the basis of hybrid technology,
which is flexible and easily modified
to meet local conditions in different
configurations, as follows:
For mountainous area: Solar energy
+ micro-hydro energy/Madicub
For coastal and island area: Solar
energy + wind energy/Madicub
For inland area: Solar energy + Diesel
generator or biomass energy/Madicub
For towns and cities: Solar energy +
power grid/Madicub
Madicub is available from 1 kVA to
10 kVA – basic for a solar array of a
variable power range between 500 Wp
and 10 kWp.
The development of DC compact
energy saving lamp (CESL) was been
in 2000. While the cost of this lamp
is slightly higher than the traditional
fluorescent lamp, the advantages it
TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009
Rural electricity
Energy security
Standby equipment
Support grid
Continuous source
Cheap grid power price
offers are enormous. It has about 10
times higher lifetime, bright and soft
light, and consumes much less power
than traditional lamps. The last fea-
ture allows the use of more CESLs
than the fluorescent lamps with a
similar PV system. CESL lamps are
also aesthetically pleasing. It is a very
popular accessory for PV develop-
ment. The 12 Vdc CESL saves 70 per
cent energy, helping to reduce the
cost of an SHS by 5-10 per cent in Viet
Nam. Adaptive research on CESL was
completed under the RET project and
pilot manufacturing is in the offing.
However, as CESLs are less energy-
saving than LEDs and harmful to the
environment, they are being gradu-
ally limited. The popularity of LED
lighting is growing fast in Viet Nam,
and it features in CDM project, solar
street lamps and “fish luring LED”.
Smart Integrating
PV Technology (SIPV)
The Smart Integrating PV Technology
(SIPV) is a complete solution for grid-
connected renewable energy sources
and does not waste any electricity
generated from renewable energy
sources (Dung, 2009b). It is very
efficient in its usage of PV and other
renewable energy sources, and is
useful against black out and during
erratic grid power supply as well. The
block scheme of SIPV is presented
in Figure 5. All local renewable energy
sources, mainly a PV array, could be
used to feed the local network with
electricity. The shortfall in the energy
33
Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies
Figure 5: The block scheme of SIPV
supply will be drawn from the grid auto-
matically. When the power from PV
array is inadequate, a battery bank will
kick in to prevent black out. Similarly,
when the grid is off and solar power is
insufficient, Madicub will switch over
(switching time 30 ms) to battery mode
and supply power to the local network.
This operation will also commence
when the battery bank is too full and
needs to be partially discharged.
When the solar electricity load is
above 10 per cent of the set value, the
PV Madicub (true sine; standard fre-
quency ±1 per cent) will automatically
switch off partly to regulate power
supply to the local network. The addi-
tional solar electricity generated will
be used to charge the battery bank
for energy storage.
The system helps reduce expense
towards power purchase by tapping
grid electricity only from 22:00 PM to
04:00 AM. 2 The grid-charger is pro-
grammed to jump in to buy power for
charging battery bank for storage, and
use that power in peak times when
grid power is at the highest price. SIPV
works in fully automatic mode and all
operations are monitored and man-
aged. The SIPV technology won the
2
Electricity Viet Nam’s tariff is the lowest
from 22:00 PM to 04:00 AM.
34 TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009
Gold Cup at the Asia Tech-Mart Plus
3 (Asian countries plus Japan, China
and the Republic of Korea) in 2009.
The first solar roof (12.6 kWp) using
SIPV technology has been displayed
by Solarlab and Tuan An Group at
Tuan An headquarters in HCM City.
Mega Solar Programme
2010-2025
Solar electricity industry is expanding
around the world. It has several ad-
vantages over other energy sources:
it is endless and clean, and has no
waste, noise or negative environmen-
tal impact. It is expected to be the
number one energy source by 2100,
meeting up to 75 per cent of the global
energy demand (Dung, 2009c).
Objectives
The demand and market for renew-
able energy exploitation in Viet Nam
is very high and urgent, as reflected
in Master Plan VI. In recognition of
this, a Mega Solar Programme (MSP)
is under preparation for discussion
in a Joint Ministerial Meeting before
submission for government approval.
MSP has the following main goals:
z Increase the competitiveness of
Viet Nam’s solar electricity indus-
try to world level by 2025;
z Raise the country’s position in the
region to the top in PV technology
development and PV production
capacity;
z Effectively exploit solar electricity
to secure national energy supply,
and national socio-economic dev-
elopment in general, by providing
the country 250 MWp, which is
equivalent to 1.25 billion kWh/day
or 456.25 billion kWh/year by 2025;
z Decrease the price of solar elec-
tricity by 30 per cent by 2015, and
to the level of the price of tradition-
al electricity by 2040; and
z Ensure that the national grid, in-
cluding solar electricity, will fully
electrify the entire country by 2025.
Programme content
MSP will be implemented with the co-
operation of both public and private
sectors. Three groups of projects are
planned as the following:
A. Public welfare projects: This group
of projects will play a crucial role in
pushing the development of solar
electricity in Viet Nam. It will establish
solar electricity projects and collect
reliable data on the development pro-
cesses and for proof of solar energy
potential. The data will be submitted
to the government in order to improve
the legal foundation – by way of poli-
cies, regulations and legislations –
to promote research, investment and
manufacture of solar energy.
B. Core technologies projects: This
group of projects aims to develop Viet
Nam’s photovoltaic industry to world
level.
C. Fiscal stimulus projects: This group
of projects, which will be tied to the
output of the core technologies pro-
jects, are investment projects for the
construction of establishments that
use solar electricity.
Kim Dinh International Group Joint
Stock Company, Tuan An Group Joint
Stock Company and many other local
companies in the energy business
are very interested in participating in
the development of solar electricity.
The private sector is looking forward
to a long-term, comprehensive nation-
al solar energy programme. Four big
projects have been already planned
and are awaiting macro policy support

from the government: 10,000 solar roof
project (Tuan An Group); 2 MWp local,
grid-connected solar plant project
(Tuan An Group); 10,000 solar and
renewable energy public lighting pro-
jects (Kim Dinh International Group);
and renewable energy demonstration
park project. Besides these, two core
technologies projects have also been
planned: project for building a factory
to produce 15 MW/year of solar cells
and solar modules (Tan Hiep Phuc
Joint Stock Company), project for
building a factory to produce 10 kW
and 25 kW solar thermal parabolic
dishes using Stirling technology [co-
operation between Germany’s Stirling
Sun Power International GmbH (SSPI)
and three Viet Nam companies].
Solar roof project
Solar roof on a villa
Potential investors: Tuan An Group
Joint Stock company and Viglacera
Group.
Details: 10,000 solar roofs from 1 kWp
to 100 kWp, using SIPV technology
with total capacity of 10 MWp will be
built across the country. The project
aims to effectively use solar electricity
to balance the national grid supply
in urban areas and to electrify remote
inland/island/border areas. This pro-
ject will lay a foundation for the devel-
opment of solar electricity in Viet Nam.
Technologies and human resource
for solar industry will be also devel-
oped through the project.
Renewable energy public lighting
project
Potential investors: Kim Dinh Interna-
tional Group Joint Stock Company
Details: Public lighting shares a big
portion in the national energy balance.
However, the existing public lighting
systems in Viet Nam are obsolete, and
cause enormous energy loss. The
Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies
Solar street lights
new public lighting project goal is to
produce and install 10,000 efficient
lighting systems using light emitting
diode (LED) and high intensity dis-
charge (HID) technologies, which may
save up to 70 per cent of energy, to
replace the existing high voltage light
bulb systems, and employ renewable
electricity source instead of grid for
public lighting. Besides supplying for
the local market, the project also looks
forward to exporting to international
market. Kim Dinh International Group
has plans to build a high-tech factory
for manufacturing lighting devices.
With 10,000 new public light systems
to be installed across the country, the
initiative will be a full-scale demon-
stration project for renewable energy.
Local grid-connected solar plant
project
Potential investors: Tuan An Group
Joint Stock company, ODA capital from
Spain and others
Details: This project will build the first
local grid-connected solar plant on a
remote island of Viet Nam. It will lay the
foundation for exploiting solar energy
to support coastal and remote island
communities, and in supporting na-
tional security and defence capability.
Manufacturing accessory devices
project
Potential investors: Tuan An Group
Joint Stock company
Details: With technology transferred
from Germany, Tuan An Group will con-
struct a factory in Long An province
for manufacturing smart PV devices.
The factory will produce devices and
equipment for solar industry such as
TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009
solar chargers and solar inverters. At
the first step, this factory will provide
devices for a 2 MW grid-connected
local solar plant. In the long run, the
factory is expected to produce high
quality PV devices for local market
and gradually extend to international
market.
Manufacturing solar cells and solar
modules project
Potential investors: The General De-
partment of Defence Industry, Tan Hiep
Phuc Joint Stock company
Details: Tan Hiep Phuc has brought
out a feasibility study report for a pro-
ject to build a factory with capacity of
15 MW per year solar cells and solar
modules. The project is seeking for
cooperation with Taiwanese compa-
nies and other local companies.
Renewable energy demonstration
park project
Potential investors: RCEE
Details: This project will build a dem-
onstration park to demonstrate all kind
of renewable energies in the “World
Biosphere” area Can Gio, HCM city. In
the park, the most advanced technol-
ogies in renewable energy industry
will be demonstrated. Besides a 200
kWp solar farm, wind, biogas and bio-
mass farms are also planned to be
built.
Electric and solar taxi project
Potential investors: Mai Linh Energy
Joint Stock Company
Details: Mai Linh has brought out a
feasibility study report about using
electric taxies in Lao Bao Special Eco-
nomic Zone of Quang Tri province. The
company is working to transfer the
technology into Viet Nam. The success
of this project will be a starting point
for using electric cars in ecotourism
zones, export processing zones, in-
dustrial zones, etc.
Manufacturing solar thermal para-
bolic dishes project
Potential investors: SSPI, Germany,
and 3 local companies
Details: The project is about building
a factory to produce 10 kW and 25 kW
solar thermal parabolic dishes in Tay
Ninh Industrial Zone. The planned
capital investment is US$20 million.
35
Special Feature: Renewable Energy Technologies
Solar fishing boats project
Potential investors: Kim Dinh Interna-
tional Group Joint Stock Company
Details: Solar power will provide elec-
tricity for modern facilities aboard the
boat as well as promote the living
standards of fisherfolk. GPS systems
and fish sensor on the boats would be
solar-powered. HID lamps and CESL
lighting will be used during fishing.
Programme management
and operation
This programme, a pioneering effort
in Viet Nam, would face many man-
agement and technological obstacles.
It urges strong cooperation among
policy-makers, researchers, enter-
prises and the government to orient
towards a sustainable development
of the solar industry of Viet Nam. The
Ministry of Industry and Trade, the
Ministry of Planning and Investment,
the Ministry of Science and Technol-
ogy, and the Ministry of Natural Re-
source and Environment, as well as
the Academy of Science and Tech-
nology are involved in managing the
programme. The Academy is respon-
sible for establishing the programme.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade and
the Academy will directly manage MSP.
MSP will have two stages. Stage
1 (2010-2015) will establish and dev-
elop the national solar industry. The
Institute of Science and Technology
will manage this stage, building the
bridge between enterprises and gov-
ernment. Stage 2 (2015-2025), which
involves mass production and com-
petitive trading in domestic and the
world markets, will be managed by the
Ministry of Industry and Trade. The
200 MWp solar electricity project to
support the national grid and rural
electrification will be in this stage.
Programme structure
Government bodies:
z Representatives of the Ministry of
Industry and Trade, the Ministry of
Natural Resource and Environ-
ment, the Ministry of Science and
Technology, the Ministry of Finance;
z Representatives of the Academy
of Science and Technology and the
General Department of Defence
Industry; and
36 TECH MONITOR z Nov-Dec 2009
z Representatives of the community
of HCM city, the Centre of Science
and Technology of HCM city.
Enterprises:
z Representative of EVN, PetroVN;
z Kim Dinh Group International Joint
Stock Co, Tuan An Group Joint
Stock Co., Mai Linh Corporation
and Viglacera Group; and
z Tan Hiep Phuc Joint Stock Co.,
Tan Ky Nguyen Ltd. and Selco-
Viet Nam Ltd.
Finance:
z Viet Nam Environment Protection
Fund;
z HCM city Technology Development
Supporting Fund;
z The National Bank;
z Dragon Capital Investment;
z Indo-China Investment; and
z Other joint stock banks and other
funds.
Financial mechanism of the
programme
z Estimated total capital of the pro-
gramme: US$1.5 billion
z Average annual capital investment:
US$100 million/year
z Share proportions in the capital
investment:
• National budget: 20 per cent;
• Enterprise: 40 per cent; and
• FDI and ODA: 40 per cent.
National budget: This is the budget
from the ministries, government of-
fices and National Science Fund. It
will be used mainly for public welfare
projects, technology transfer and hu-
man resource training. Besides, when
suitable, this budget can also be used
to partially support other non-welfare
projects.
Enterprise investment: The potential
capital source for Core Technologies
Projects and Fiscal Stimulus Projects.
However, this capital source is looking
for encouragement from government
policies and support from the banks.
Foreign ODA fund and foreign direct
investment: The government should
have detailed policies to allow Core
Technology Projects and Fiscal Sti-
mulus Projects to use ODA funds. This
source of capital is mainly used for
Fiscal Stimulus Projects. The govern-
ment should have detailed policies
to encourage foreign investments, as
well as to encourage local enterprises
to join in projects supported by for-
eign investment and non-government
organizations’ funds to attract more
international support.
Conclusion
Viet Nam is a very potential country for
renewable energy development and
for establishing PV technology and
industry. The most important factor
that can boost PV energy in Viet Nam
is good government policies.
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