With the development of science and technology, the production cost of solar cells has decreased significantly. In addition, the advantages of government policies, such as Decision 11/2017/QD-TTg on encouraging the development of solar PV, have contributed to making many advantages for the market to form an energy service ecosystem of solar energy, especially from a financial perspective. Since then, many businesses have seized the opportunities and actively converted to using renewable energy.
Rooftop solar project with a capacity of 1 MWp at Saigon Jim Brothers' Factory, Binh Duong. Photo: SolarESCO Saigon Jim Brother's factory (Binh Duong) is in the strategic supply chain of global brands such as Adidas. One of the criteria that the Factory aims to produce is less emissions. With that goal, Saigon - Jim Brother's has joined hands with SolarESCO (SolarBK Group) to implement a rooftop solar solution under the ESCO model.
In this project, SolarESCO directly develops and invests in a rooftop solar PV system using IREX panels manufactured by this supplier to design and complete construction according to the requirements of Saigon Jim Brother's. The system will be officially energized in 2020, with a capacity of up to 1MWp, an output of about 1,460 MWp/year. According to estimation, this rooftop solar system helps the plant reduce equivalent to 952 tons of CO2/year.
As another example, Oasis Garment Co., Ltd (Nha Be, Ho Chi Minh City) also chooses a rooftop solar solution according to the ESCO model to achieve the goal of reducing CO2 emissions per product unit. It is known that this factory is a supplier of many garment products and garment accessories to major markets such as Europe, America, Asia... According to Oasis General Director, Mr. Ibrahim Ozsoy, choosing a solar power plant not only helps businesses reduce production costs, reduce dependence on the national grid system, but more importantly, helps businesses achieve green targets, thereby retaining large customers and expanding markets. .
It is known that Oasis Nha Be Factory also chose the ESCO cooperation model to install a rooftop solar system with a capacity of 233.28 kWp. The solution helps Oasis to meet 54% of its own electricity demand, reducing about 190 tons of CO2/year.
From the fact that, in the past few years, the ESCO energy service market has had many strong changes not only in the field of apparel but also in manufacturing in general. Typically, businesses' interest in green energy transformation, the growth in the number of energy service providers, including many big names, has contributed to the improvement of energy service ecosystem for Vietnamese businesses.
More broadly, the energy services market has been growing in developed countries for decades. According to Mr. Markus Bissel, senior energy expert of GIZ, the energy services ecosystem including ESCO has formed and is supported by the German government to this day. With a country on the rise of growth like Vietnam, the market still has a lot of room for development. The current problem is the need for more incentives for businesses, such as support and encouragement policies. Besides, there is awareness-raising communication so that business owners can better see the great potential that saving energy brings.
To facilitate the green energy transition and energy saving in manufacturing enterprises, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has implemented many programs such as support for energy audits, financial and technological support for industrial transformation. As for the ESCO segment, the Ministry has directed the Department of Energy Efficiency and Sustainable Development to coordinate with EVN to deploy a number of solar hot water models and achieve certain success. Currently, the Department is developing and completing technical guidelines and promoting some models of rooftop solar PV in industrial enterprises.
The Government's preferential policies in renewable energy development have also created many positive changes in cash flow. Typically, according to data provided on Vnexpress, in 2020, about $7.4 billion of capital for renewable energy development has flowed to Vietnam. According to information from SolarESCO, this solution provider has called for a "start-up" investment support package of at least VND 3,000 billion for the development of solar projects from now until the end of 2023. The package will be disbursed immediately in November, with a commitment to developing about 200 MWp of solar PV/year. Thereby, it shows that the interest in the solar sector in particular and the green transition in the manufacturing sector in general is strong.
Ha Tran