Insights into Decision 768 amending Vietnam's power development plan VIII

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on April 15 issued Decision 768 approving Vietnam's Amended National Power Development Plan VIII for 2021-2030, with vision to 2050. Anh Dang, a senior partner at Vilaf law firm, offers an insight into the principal amendments to PDP VIII.

Vietnam’s energy sector is undergoing a transformative phase, driven by the dual imperatives of ensuring energy security and achieving sustainability in line with global climate commitments.

The country’s rapid economic growth has spurred significant increases in electricity demand, requiring robust policy and planning frameworks. Central to this transformative landscape is the Prime Minister's Decision 768/QD-TTg, issued on April 15, 2025, approving the revised National Power Development Plan VIII (Decision 768 or the Amended PDP VIII) for 2021-2030, with vision to 2050.

Effective immediately, this decisions supersedes its predecessor in Decision 500/QD-TTg (Decision 500), and introduces sweeping revisions to Vietnam’s power development blueprint.

This briefing focuses on the principal amendments to PDP VIII and contextualizes them within Vietnam’s dynamic energy regulatory framework.

I. Capacity expansion

The Amended PDP VIII has increased the total installed capacity targets significantly to accommodate Vietnam’s projected economic growth and power demand.

Originally, PDP VIII, through the issuance of Decision 500, targeted 150,489 MW in capacity in the year of 2030, noting this capacity with exclusions of (i) exported capacity, (ii) existing rooftop solar power (RTS), and (iii) renewable energy capacity to produce new energy.

The further vision to the year of 2050 under Decision 500 designated the total capacity to be in the range of 490,529-573,129MW, with the same stated exclusions.

Now the Amended PDP VIII elevates the total capacity up to the range of 183,291 MW to 236,363 MW, significantly increasing up to 57% as compared to the original capacity under Decision 500. By 2050, the Amended PDP VIII has further projected the total capacity by the year of 2050 to be 774,503 MW - 838,681 MW, almost doubling the capacity originally targeted under Decision 500.

The stated significant increases in projected power capacity under the Amended PDP VIII which were based on the differently-assumed scenarios of low, normal and high economic growth have been carefully considered and determined, with the objective of ensuring the national energy security.

1. Renewable and new energy

While securing its energy security as one of its main goals, Vietnam looks to continue its impressive shift towards renewable and new energy. Aligning with its goal to achieve net-zero by 2050, substantial capacity increases across-the-board were introduced for multiple renewable and new energy.

The increase in capacity, along with the recently issued Decree 58/2025, is expected to significantly boost investments in renewable and new energy sector. For ease of reference, only a selected number of renewable and new energy will be discussed in details, the full list of capacity allocation for each type of renewable and new energy could be found in the Amended PDP VIII.

1.1 Renewable Energy

1.1.1 Wind power:

- For onshore and nearshore wind power: The original PDP VIII targeted 21,880 MW (accounting for 14.5% of the total power capacity) by the year of 2030, increased to 60,050 MW - 77,050 MW (accounting for 12.2 - 13.4% of the projected capacity of the year of 2050).

By contrast, the Amended PDP VIII has increased the portion of the capacity of onshore and nearshore wind power to 26,066 MW - 38,029 MW by the year of 2030, and to 84,696 MW - 91,400 MW by the year of 2050.

- For offshore wind power: Under the original PDP VIII, offshore wind was oriented as a power source to potentially generate other renewable and new energy sources. Correspondingly, the plan specified a capacity allocation of 6,000 MW for offshore wind power by 2030. Additionally, production of further 15,000 MW was designated for new energy sources by 2035. Similarly, the capacity for 2050 was allocated to be 70,000 MW - 91,500 MW for domestic consumption, while the production of further 240,000 MW was designated for new energy sources.

By contrast, the Amended PDP VIII has slightly increased the portion of domestic consumption to 6,000 MW - 17,032 MW for commission. However, the original timeline of 2021-2030 has been delayed until 2030-2035 due to, among others, the complex legal landscape surrounding offshore wind power. The designated capacity allocated for production of new energy sources remains at 15,000 MW by 2035.

Similarly, the capacity for domestic consumption under the Amended PDP VIII by 2050 is elevated to be 113,503 MW - 139,097 MW from 70,000 MW - 91,500 MW as originally stipulated under Decision 500. Identical to the capacity allocation for production of new energy sources by 2035, the projected capacity by 2050 would also remain unchanged at 240,000 MW.

1.1.2 Solar power

- Under Decision 500: The capacity for solar power by 2030 was originally allocated at 12,836 MW by 2030 (existing RTS(s) are excluded), in which 10,236 MW was assigned to concentrated solar power (“điện mặt trời tập trung” in Vietnamese, hereunder referred to as CSP) while the remaining 2,600 MW was allocated to self-produced – self-consumed solar power.

However, it is crucial to note that the self-produced – self-consumed solar power was prioritized for development without capacity limit under Decision 500.

By 2050, with the same exclusions, the capacity for solar power was originally allocated at 168,594 MW - 189.294 MW under Decision 500.

- Under Decision 768: The capacity for solar power by 2030, including both CSP and RTS is newly allocated under the Amended PDP VIII to be 46,459 MW - 73,416 MW, roughly a 4-6 times higher than the original capacity under Decision 500. However, this total capacity has excluded a number of solar power sources as stipulated under Article 10.5 of the Law on Electricity 2024, including, among others, non-grid connected projects.

By 2050, the total capacity allocated for CSP and RTS is newly increased under the Amended PDP VIII to 293,088 MW - 295,646 MW, roughly doubled the originally-targeted capacity under Decision 500 (i.e. 168,594 MW - 189,294 MW).

1.2 New Energy

1.2.1 Biomass/waste power

- Under Decision 500: Collectively, the capacity for both biomass and waste energy was originally allocated at 2,270 MW. However, Decision 500 permitted higher capacity, subject to the availability of materials, efficient land use, environment treatment, grid infrastructure, reasonable tariff and transmission cost.

By 2050, total capacity for both biomass and waste energy was allocated at 6,015 MW under Decision 500.

- Under Decision 768: The capacity is now divided for each biomass and waste energy under the Amended PDP VIII. To elaborate, capacity allocated for biomass is at 1,523 MW - 2,669 MW while waste is at 1,441 MW - 2,137 MW.

By 2050, the total capacity for both biomass and waste energy is newly set out at 4,829 MW - 6,960 MW, and 1,784 MW - 2,137 MW, respectively.

2. New additions to PDP VIII

Apart from some of the main renewable and new energy capacity changes, several new sources of power have been supplemented under the Amended PDP VIII via the issuance of Decree 768. To elaborate:

- For geothermal and other new energy sources, by 2030 a total capacity will be 45 MW or higher, subjecting to availability of materials, efficient land use, environment treatment, grid infrastructure, tariff and transmission costs. By 2050, it will be increased approximately to 464 MW;

- For nuclear energy, during 2030-2035 a total capacity will be in the range of 4,000 MW - 6,000 MW or higher, subject to the applicable conditions. By 2050, it will be increased to the range of 10,500 MW - 14,000 MW;

- For LNG with carbon capture and storage technology (LNG with CCS), by 2050 its total capacity will be increased to the range of 1,887 MW - 2,269 MW; and

- For power sources participating in DPPA and new energy production, by 2030 it is anticipated that there will be up to 1,500 large consumers (each of them uses ≥ 1 million kWh/year). The electricity consumption of this group may reach 25% total electricity capacity (i.e. about 45,822.75 MW - 59,090.75 MW, calculated based on 25% of total capacity by 2030).

II. Planning and development of some key power sources

1. Wind power

1.1 Postponing offshore wind power projects

As previously stated in Section 1.1.1, the capacity allocated for offshore wind power projects is now postponed until 2030-2035 instead of the original 2021-2030 period under Decision 500. Regarding this postponement, the following reasons are provided under the Amended PDP VIII Explanatory Notes, specifically:

- Offshore wind power projects typically require for high investment cost, complex technologies, and lengthy construction duration;

- Legal framework for offshore wind power projects is not yet completed, including, among others, survey content, investor selection, investment decision procedures; and

- Relaunch of Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant would reduce the scale of offshore wind power in the south-central region.

1.2 Increase in onshore and nearshore wind power projects until 2050

Under Decision 768, several provinces are newly allocated with approximate 1,000 MW onshore and nearshore capacity, including Ha Tinh, Ninh Thuan, Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, Binh Dinh, Dak Lak by the year of 2030. For the period of 2031-2035, Dak Lak and Gia Lai are allocated with approximate 1,000 MW onshore and nearshore capacity.

2. Solar power

2.1 Development of floating solar projects

A number of floating solar projects, which are intended to be developed on existing hydropower lakes, have newly been included in the Amended PDP VIII for the period 2025-2030. This is consistent with the encouragement to develop floating solar projects as stipulated under Article 4 of Decree 56/2025 and Article 20.2 (e) of the Law on Electricity 2024.

2.2 Supplementation and removal of a number of CSP projects

A number of CSP projects, which were already included in the provincial plans during 2021-2030, with the vision to 2050, is now included in the Amended PDP VIII. This inclusion is consistent with the requirement set out in Article 4 of Decree 56/2025.

On the other hand, a number of CSP projects, which are considered for conversion to self-produced – self-consumed ones, are now removed pursuant to the Amended PDP VIII for the reason that, among others, many of which does not have connection plans.

3. Limit on development of power sources using LNG

Decision 768 stipulates that, by 2050, LNG power plants are under the Amended PDP VIII set to “switch” to hydrogen (instead of “gradually switching to hydrogen” as originally stipulated under Decision 500). Moreover, the Amended PDP VIII strongly encourages the construction of LNG with carbon capture and storage technology (the LNG with CCS) by 2050. In general, such encouragement is mainly to reduce depending upon the imported fuel.

4. Inclusion of nuclear power

Having reflected the National Assembly and the Prime Minister’s directions, nuclear power is now included in the Amended PDP VIII. Such inclusion is expected to have considerable impact on energy landscape of Vietnam after 2030. Vietnam is shifting towards nuclear power, as an alternative to offshore wind power project, with its vision set on Ninh Thuan 1 & 2 power plants during the period of 2030-2035.

5. Imports and exports of electricity

- Regarding the import of power, by 2050, the Amended PDP VIII is anticipating an increase in total imports from Laos to the northern region of Vietnam, subject to favorable prices and conditions. Imports from China to the northern region of Vietnam is expected to be strengthened given inclusion of the 500 kV Vietnam-China-Mong Cai border line, and the 220 kV Vietnam-China-Lao Cai border line in the Amended PDP VIII.

- Regarding export of power, the Amended PDP VIII generally determines that the region for exporting power would be the central and southern region of Vietnam.

6. Transmission grids

Under the Amended PDP VIII, 550 kV and 220 kV lines and substations would be increased by approximately 1.5 times compared to the corresponding number under the original PDP VIII issued in Decision 500.

Additionally, the Amended PDP VIII specifically guides that the volume of transmission grids will be developed so as to allocate the development areas, estimation of land demand for the grid development and serve as the basis for updating the provincial and related technical plans. Technical specifications on capacity, scale, location, substation, length, cross section and circuit for the grid connection shall be determined in the project preparation phase.