Vietnam reduces electric energy consumption at its largest solar farm

That move could be a blow to the country's drive to increase the use of renewable energy.

The power trading unit of state-owned utility EVN reduced the utilisation rate at the Trung Nam - Thuan Nam solar power plant in Ninh Thuan province to 278 megawatts (MW) from 450 MW, according to a government news release.

Vietnam committed last year to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050 and is looking to enhance installed electricity generation capacity with a focus on renewables.

According to a letter accessed by Reuters that was addressed to the power plant's developer, Trung Nam Group, the EVN unit stated the utilisation drop starting Sept. 1 was due to a "lack of a pricing mechanism."

"We cannot utilise the portion of installed capacity for which a feed-in tariff hasn't been approved by authorities," EVN deputy chief executive Nguyen Anh Tai said in the government's news release.

The current pricing system, which is 9.35 US cents per kWh, is only applicable to the province's first 2,000 MW of solar power.

Trung Nam had requested the ministry of industry and commerce and EVN to restart full use of the solar farm in a separate letter.

Resuming full utilisation would help the investor cover its investment cost and "avoid bankruptcy", according to the letter reviewed by Reuters.

Source: Reuters