The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) has been asked to report the list of approved solar power plants to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc before July 15, 2018.

Earlier, the ministry proposed to Deputy PM Trinh Dinh Dung a supplementation of some solar power projects into the Power Development Master Plan VII.

It said that the master plan has currently many shortcomings. Many electricity projects have been delayed, especially those in the southern region, including Long Phu I, Long Phu II, Song Hau I, Song Hau II and Vinh Tan III.

The development of thermal-power plants is also facing difficulties due to stricter requirements on environment protection as well as infrastructure and coal supply to plants.

These are reasons why the addition of solar power plants with quick investment and speedy construction progress, besides being a clean power source, into the master plan is necessary.

In addition to the approved projects, the number of solar power projects submitted by investors to the ministry is large. The supplementation of such projects should be considered to ensure transparency and equality in planning and management as well as to ensure power supply and land fund for projects.

Deputy PM Dung has asked the ministry to report the specific list of approved solar projects to be supplemented into electricity planning in localities while enhancing the management of the projects.

In addition to this, the ministry has been asked to quickly complete the national solar power development planning to submit to the Prime Minister.

According to the announcement, the Government will only consider adding to the master plan solar power projects of whom the ministry has completed the assessment and submitted the report to the Prime Minister. These include BIM2 (250MW) in southern Ninh Thuan Province, PhuMy (330MW) in central Binh Dinh Province and some others.

The ministry has been asked to take responsibilities such as assessing contents, especially clarifying the necessity to supplement the project into the master plan, scale of the projects and feasibility in investment.

MoIT has approved more than 70 projects, with a total capacity of over 3,000MW, to be operationalised before June 2019.

The capacity is much larger than the combined capacity of projects by 2020 as approved by the Prime Minister in the master plan. — VNS