Latest regulations on competitive wholesale electricity market

The issuance of the Circular, scheduled to take effect from November 25, 2024, is part of a wider effort to improve legislation around grid-connected projects ahead of the launch of numerous LNG to-power tenders this year, including through the concurrent preparation of a separate draft new circular on power tariff determination and model power purchase agreement.

The circular is applicable to organizations participating in the electricity wholesale market, including wholesalers, energy generator businesses, electricity system and market operators, and electricity transmission units.

Electricity plants with capacity exceeding 30 MW shall be required to participate directly in the VWEM. Various projects are not required to participate directly in the VWEM and can instead continue to sell electricity to EVN on a direct basis. These projects include Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and power importing projects.

According to the Electricity Law and Decision 63/2013/QD-TTg dated November 8, 2013 of the Prime Minister, the competitive electricity market in Viet Nam is formed and developed at the following levels: competitive generation market (level 1); competitive wholesale electricity market (level 2); and competitive retail electricity market (level 3).

MoIT put the competitive generation market into operation from July 1, 2012, and the competitive wholesale electricity market into operation from January 1, 2019.

Continuing to improve the legal system will create transparency and fair competition among market participants, contributing to the sustainable development of Viet Nam's electricity market./.