Vietnam allows big companies to buy clean energy directly to meet their climate targets
Vietnam has passed a decree radically loosening the Communist Party-ruled state’s control on how electricity is sold to private companies
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam will let electricity-guzzling factories buy electricity from wind and solar power producers, helping big companies like Samsung Electronics meet their climate targets and relieving pressure on the country's overstrained grid.
The government decree allowing Direct Power Purchase Agreements, or DPPAs, was approved earlier this month. It lifts a regulation requiring all consumers of power to rely only on the state-run utility Vietnam Electricity, or EVN, and its subsidiaries, which distribute electricity at rates fixed by the government.
Foreign investors that are vital to Vietnam's ascent as a major exporter had been clamoring for such a change.
“The DPPA will dramatically alter this status quo,” said Giles Cooper, a partner at the international law firm Allens based in Hanoi who specializes in energy policy.
