In the 1990s, the solar energy technology was introduced into Vietnam through projects funded by the governments of Spanish, Dutch, French and German. Many solar energy projects have been put into application since then, mainly to meet electricity needs of people in remote and rural areas, where the national grid has not reached. Unfortunately, those above projects are only in pilot scale.

Currently, some companies in the field of solar energy involved in lighting projects are having many difficulties. The primary challenge is that our country has not had a solar power industry, so all equipment has to be imported at high cost, while provinces and cities have not boldly applied this technology to public works.

Another reason is that there is no law allowing private electricity producers to connect to the grid, so businesses wishing to connect to the grid must  wait for negotiations with the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).

Besides, tax and price policies to support enterprises producing "clean electricity" are not available, making it more difficult for investors to cover their expenditures, which is also the barrier to investment in this area.

It can be said that the exclusive electricity supply mechanism has slowed down development of the energy industry and created frequent energy shortage. As many energy experts compared, Vietnam is "toddling" on the path of energy development in general and clean energy in particular. If this trend continues, how long before our country can develop clean energy as expected?

By Minh Duc