Ho Chi Minh City proposes wider access to direct power trading

Ho Chi Minh City proposes wider access to direct power trading

Ho Chi Minh City is proposing to expand direct power trading to businesses in industrial parks, high-tech parks, and other designated economic zones, widening access to direct power purchase agreements (DPPAs) with electricity generators.

Photo: Le Toan

A draft resolution, being prepared by Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, proposes expanding the pool of participants eligible for the direct electricity trading mechanism between power generators and electricity consumers.

As Vietnam’s leading economic and industrial hub, Ho Chi Minh City is home to numerous industrial and specialised zones with substantial and stable electricity demand.

For manufacturers seeking access to global export markets, the use of clean energy in production has increasingly become a decisive requirement.

International supply chains are placing greater emphasis on emissions reduction, sustainability and the use of renewable energy, making access to cleaner electricity increasingly important for Vietnamese businesses.

Against this backdrop, the government laid the groundwork for the DPPA mechanism under Decree No.57/2025/ND-CP stipulating the mechanism for direct electricity trading between renewable energy generators and large electricity users. Decree 57 was supplemented by Decree No.243/2026/ND-CP introducing several amendments to the DPPA mechanism between renewable energy generators and large power consumers. The mechanism allows electricity consumers to enter into direct contracts with renewable-energy generators.

However, implementation in Ho Chi Minh City has exposed a practical obstacle.

Under current regulations, the mechanism is primarily available to renewable-energy generators and a group defined as ‘large electricity customers.’

This requirement has effectively left thousands of small- and medium-sized factories operating in industrial parks and other specialised zones unable to participate.

Although many of these businesses need green electricity to meet the requirements of international customers, they cannot access direct clean power supplies because they do not meet the threshold for large electricity consumers.

To address the impediment, and based on the need to concretise the Law on Urban Development, the draft resolution proposes broadening eligibility on both sides of the electricity transaction.

On the buyer side, apart from large electricity customers defined under the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Circular No.29/2026/TT-BCT regulating the operation of Vietnam’s Competitive Wholesale Electricity Market, the city proposes opening the mechanism to electricity users operating in industrial parks, export-processing zones, economic zones, industrial clusters and high-tech parks.

Other specialised areas, including concentrated digital-technology zones and high-tech agricultural zones, would also be eligible under the proposal.

On the generation side, the draft introduces another significant change by proposing the inclusion of power generators using liquefied natural gas (LNG), alongside existing renewable-energy sources.

The addition of LNG is intended to diversify clean electricity supply and strengthen energy security as the city accelerates its transition towards lower-emission sources of power.

VIR