Financial support for households installing rooftop solar power: Need more attractive level

Dr. Ngo Tuan Kiet, Director of the Institute of Energy Technology, said that the proposal to provide financial support for households to install rooftop solar power is a timely "push" to stimulate people to develop this field, especially in Hanoi .

“Rooftop solar power in the form of self-production and self-consumption, when promoted, will help cope with the risk of power shortages. If many households invest in solar power for their own use, especially production and business households with large electricity consumption needs, the pressure on the national power source will be greatly reduced,” said Mr. Kiet.

Dr. Kiet further analyzed: Although it is encouraging self-produced and self-consumed electricity, if there is an effective mechanism, it will be easier to encourage people to join hands with the State to develop clean energy sources to help reduce emissions, moving towards the net zero target by 2050. Along with that, the roadmap to convert gasoline motorbikes to electric vehicles in big cities will also be smoother.

Therefore, Mr. Kiet highly appreciated the Ministry of Industry and Trade 's research, initiative and proposal to the Government to promptly support people to install rooftop solar power. "This is really a suitable and correct solution that we have lacked up to now ," he said and suggested that a more attractive support level could be offered to increase the incentive effectiveness, especially in the Hanoi area.

" Hanoi is an area with very low solar radiation potential, so installation costs are often higher. The city is also moving towards converting gasoline motorbikes to electric vehicles. Therefore, additional support policies are needed to stimulate people's demand, " Mr. Kiet analyzed.

Better policies are needed to encourage people to develop rooftop solar power. (Illustration photo: Industry and Trade Magazine).

In addition, Mr. Kiet said that there should be detailed instructions from EVN and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, for example: what procedures are needed to install rooftop solar power, what are the standards for the quality of solar panels. Because in the market, there is a phenomenon of advertising quality in one way but in reality it is not like that.

“ Therefore, careful calculations are needed to clearly issue standards for each subject to avoid waste as well as ensure the quality of the project. If we only support people with money or incentives when they borrow from banks without specific instructions, it can cause consumers to waste money when installing ,” said Mr. Kiet.

Sharing the same view, expert Dao Nhat Dinh said that the maximum support amount of 2.5 million VND/household is only encouraging and supportive, not decisive. Currently on the market, a 20kW solar power system, a 1-phase inverter system, an output of 600 - 650 kWh/month, and an installation area equivalent to about 45 m² are being offered for sale at an installation price of 90 - 100 million VND. If 2 more tanks can store 15kW/tank and the wiring system, it will cost 80 million VND/tank. Thus, the total cost is 260 million VND/system.

" Looking at it like that, we can see that the support level of 2.5 million VND is not attractive and difficult to achieve the expected incentive factor. If we want people to invest their own money to invest in power sources, including storage batteries, the support level should be increased. In fact, households often use electricity at night because they often go to work during the day and few people are at home, and solar power is collected during the day, so without storage batteries, it is very unstable. Meanwhile, the price of storage batteries is very high at the moment ," Mr. Dao Nhat Dinh frankly stated his opinion.

From a business perspective, Mr. Bui Van Thinh, Director of a renewable energy company in Lam Dong , also proposed that the fixed support level of 2.5 million VND or a maximum loan of 35 million VND should be considered to increase. In fact, most households install rooftop solar power for low-capacity use, so the investment cost is already tens of millions of VND. For larger households, it can be up to hundreds of millions. Not to mention, many households currently want to use a system with electricity storage to be able to use solar energy at night.

" In my opinion, the support level should be calculated as a percentage of each household's total investment ," Mr. Thinh suggested.

According to the draft Decision of the Prime Minister regulating the support policy for households installing rooftop solar power for self-production and self-consumption, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposes that households installing solar power, with a battery storage system installed, will be supported with investment capital with a maximum of 500,000 VND for 1kWp, but not exceeding 2.5 million VND for a household.
Households are also supported with commercial loan interest rates for investment, such as applying short-term loan interest rates, maximum support period of three years and maximum interest-supported loan amount of 7 million VND for 1kWp, but not exceeding 35 million VND/system.
To receive support, households must meet the following conditions: have an application, have completed all procedures for development, investment, installation, connection, acceptance and commissioning; and meet the requirements and procedures for borrowing capital according to regulations.

PHAM DUY

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ho-tro-tien-cho-ho-gia-dinh-lap-dien-mat-troi-mai-nha-can-muc-hap-dan-hon-ar956245.html