Vietnam is a country with huge potential for developing solar power. However, in reality, the development of this power source is still limited. According to the data of the electricity industry, the average solar radiation intensity in Vietnam is quite high, about 5kW/ m2/ day and the number of sunny hours is about 1700 - 2500 hours/ year. However, in reality, the development of this power source in Vietnam is very modest and not fully exploited. Solar power has predominant advantages than other natural power sources. For example, biomass power generation capacity is very modest while investment costs are high. As for wind power, according to calculations, to make 1MW of wind power requires 2 hectares, just only in some areas. Comparision with solar power, to produce 1MW just needs only 1 hectare of land and can be deployed in all regions of the country - especially the use of panels located on the roof. The cost of solar power is low, for example, solar panel connected to
Vietnam is witnessing the growing "thirst" of international companies and investors engaging in the solar energy trading market. The real potential of solar power in Vietnam According to the Vietnam Clean Energy Association, Vietnam is one of the countries with the most sunshine in the world's solar radiation map. On average, total solar radiation in Vietnam ranges from 4.3-5.7 million kWh / m2. In the Central Highlands provinces , the average sunshine hours range from 2,000-2,600 hours per year, average solar radiation of 150kcal / m2 is about 2,000-5,000 hours per year, with estimated theoretical potential around 43.9 billion TOE (TOE – tons of oil equivalent). With the wind and solar advantage of a tropical monsoon climate country, Vietnam identified that these were two main sources of energy for clean power development. Therefore, The Power Development Master Plan VII has been adjusted and planned to exploit solar electricity of about 850MW by 2020; 4,