Decree 58/2025/ND-CP
Vietnam's rooftop solar self-consumption framework, in force since 3 March 2025.
Status: In force · Approximately 20 MOIT implementing circulars still in development · This page last updated: 23 April 2026
Key facts
| Issued | 3 March 2025 by the Government of Vietnam |
|---|---|
| Effective | Immediately on issuance (3 March 2025) |
| Replaces | Decree 135/2024/ND-CP (in force 22 October 2024 – 2 March 2025) |
| Governs | Rooftop solar systems installed for self-consumption on residences, offices, factories, industrial zones, economic zones, and production/business facilities |
| Status | In force. ~20 MOIT implementing circulars in development |
| Last material amendment | None since issuance; companion instruments include EVN Decision 378/QD-EVN (12 March 2025) |
| Key thresholds | Tier boundaries at 100 kW and 1,000 kW; 20% surplus export cap; ≤1 kV exempt from master plan inclusion |
| Surplus sale price | ~VND 671/kWh (~US$0.027/kWh) — previous year's average wholesale market price |
| Related regulations | Decree 57/2025/ND-CP (DPPA); Decree 56/2025/ND-CP (planning exemption); Decree 61/2025/ND-CP (licensing); Decree 175/2024/ND-CP (construction) |
What Decree 58 actually does
Who can install rooftop solar under Decree 58?
Any organisation or individual can install rooftop solar for self-consumption on residences, offices, factories, industrial zones, economic zones, and production/business facilities — with the licensing burden scaling by installed capacity rather than by who the owner is.
Decree 58 is deliberately permissive on eligibility. There is no restriction on who can install RTS provided the system is installed on an eligible structure (essentially any roofed building). The decree distinguishes between two installation models: (a) systems not connected to the national grid (no capacity limit, no licence required, DOIT notification only) and (b) systems connected to the national grid (three capacity tiers with escalating administrative burden). Importantly, Decree 58 does not require the RTS developer to be the building owner — CNC Counsel confirmed in 2025 that the decree's text contains no such requirement, which implicitly permits equipment lease and third-party ownership models.
In practice: a hotel owner, a factory operator, and a specialist RTS developer all qualify. The licensing pathway depends on system size and grid connection, not on who holds title to the roof.
What are the three capacity tiers and their licensing rules?
For grid-connected rooftop solar, Decree 58 creates three capacity tiers — under 100 kW, 100 kW to under 1,000 kW, and 1,000 kW and above — with each tier imposing more administrative steps than the one below.
Under 100 kW: developer notifies the provincial Department of Industry and Trade (DOIT) and local authorities only; surplus sale of up to 20% of monthly generated output to EVN is permitted. 100 kW to under 1,000 kW: additional notification to EVN required; the same 20% surplus rule applies if the project falls within the provincial capacity allocation under the revised PDP8. 1,000 kW and above: developer must register with DOIT for a development certificate; an electricity operation licence is required if the system sells surplus to EVN; a SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system is mandatory for monitoring and dispatch coordination.
In practice: the 100 kW threshold matters for small hotels and SMEs; the 1,000 kW threshold is the meaningful step-change for industrial C&I — crossing into the top tier triggers genuine administrative burden and a requirement for specialist integration partners.
How does the 20% surplus export cap work?
Systems connected to the national grid may sell up to 20% of monthly generated output to EVN at the previous year's average wholesale market price — approximately VND 671/kWh (around US$0.027/kWh) — with mountain, border, and island areas exempt from the cap.
The 20% cap is measured against actual monthly generation, not installed capacity. EVN purchases the surplus at the average wholesale market price published for the preceding year under MOIT's generation price framework, approximately VND 671/kWh for ground-mounted solar as of 2025. If a developer does not want to sell surplus, a zero-export device must be installed to prevent electricity from being fed into the grid. Industrial facilities with variable demand profiles — for example, factories in sectors with production troughs or weekend shutdowns — frequently generate above the 20% threshold on weekends or holidays; the economics of the cap are one of the decree's most-criticised provisions.
In practice: the cap materially constrains over-sizing. An industrial developer building RTS as if it were a yield-driven asset will hit the cap and either curtail generation or sell below cost; optimal sizing is driven by self-consumption load curves, not by roof area.
What happened to the old FiT rates from Decision 13/2020?
The FiT scheme under Decision 13/2020/QD-TTg closed to new projects on 31 December 2020; existing 20-year PPAs signed under that decision remain in force at adjusted VND/USD rates, but new rooftop solar projects no longer have access to the 8.38 US-cents/kWh tariff.
Decision 13/2020/QD-TTg (6 April 2020) introduced a rooftop solar feed-in tariff of 8.38 US cents/kWh for projects that achieved commercial operation date between 1 July 2019 and 31 December 2020. The FiT window closed on 31 December 2020. Existing PPAs continue at their original USD-denominated rate, converted to VND at the published exchange rate, for the remaining years of their 20-year terms. Under Decree 58, new rooftop solar projects no longer qualify for FiT pricing; surplus sales are at the approximately VND 671/kWh wholesale average — a step-change reduction of roughly 70% from FiT-era economics. The business case for new RTS accordingly shifts from surplus-sale yield to self-consumption savings against a rising EVN retail tariff.
In practice: if your building already has a 2019 or 2020 FiT PPA, protect it carefully in any ownership transfer or roof renovation; if you are installing new, model the economics on self-consumption savings and treat surplus sale as a marginal kicker.
Is a third-party developer model permitted?
Third-party ownership and equipment lease models are permitted in practice but remain a regulatory grey area — Decree 58 does not expressly authorise or prohibit them, and no dedicated template contract exists.
Decree 58 does not require the RTS developer to be the building owner. CNC Counsel confirmed in 2025 that the decree's text contains no such requirement, which leaves the door open to equipment lease, power-purchase, and service-contract structures. MOIT's August 2024 report to the Deputy Prime Minister opined that entities may engage service providers for RTS investment, subject to compliance with general civil transaction regulations. In practice, four business models operate in Vietnam — corporate PPA, sale contract, service contract, and equipment lease — identified by Baker McKenzie in 2025. Each carries recharacterisation risk: structures that look too much like a finance lease may require State Bank of Vietnam licensing, and structures that look too much like a disguised PPA may trigger generation licensing and DPPA compliance under Decree 57.
In practice: the equipment lease is the pragmatic path for hospitality and mid-size C&I, but the contract structure matters — term length, purchase option at expiry, and consumption-based payment formulas all shape the recharacterisation risk.
Timeline
Articles and thresholds
Scope of application
Covers rooftop solar systems installed for self-consumption on residences, offices, factories, industrial zones, economic zones, production and business facilities, and related structures. Self-consumption means electricity is primarily used on-site to serve the owner's own demand, with surplus sale limited to 20% of monthly generated output. The decree applies to both grid-connected and off-grid systems, with different rules for each.
In practice: "self-consumption" is the defining concept — systems whose economic purpose is export to the grid do not fit under Decree 58 and must pursue a different regulatory pathway (typically Decree 57 DPPA for larger projects).
Grid-connected RTS tier boundaries
Three capacity tiers govern grid-connected systems. Under 100 kW: DOIT notification only; 20% surplus sale permitted. 100 kW to under 1,000 kW: DOIT plus EVN notification; 20% surplus sale subject to provincial capacity allocation. 1,000 kW and above: DOIT registration for a development certificate; electricity operation licence required if selling surplus; SCADA system mandatory.
In practice: the 100 kW and 1,000 kW thresholds are tight — a single warehouse roof at a mid-size factory routinely crosses 1,000 kW, making the top-tier rules more commonly triggered than the headline "rooftop" framing suggests.
Off-grid systems
Systems not connected to the national grid have no capacity limit and require no electricity operation licence; DOIT notification alone is sufficient. This pathway suits remote sites, mountain and island locations, and facilities with sufficient on-site storage or demand to avoid grid connection.
In practice: off-grid is almost always impractical for mainland C&I because loads rarely match generation perfectly hour-by-hour; even so-called "off-grid" installations typically retain a grid connection for backup.
Surplus sale to EVN
Grid-connected RTS may sell surplus electricity to EVN at a price equal to the average wholesale market electricity price of the preceding year, not exceeding the maximum generation price framework for ground-mounted solar (approximately VND 671/kWh, ~US$0.027/kWh, as of 2025). Surplus is capped at 20% of monthly generated output; mountain, border, and island areas are exempt from the cap. A zero-export device must be installed if surplus is not sold.
In practice: the surplus price is a fraction of the EVN retail tariff a typical C&I customer pays — exporting surplus is value-destroying relative to self-consuming, so properly-sized systems minimise surplus by design.
Equipment prohibitions
Used panels and inverters are prohibited, and imported second-hand equipment is prohibited. Systems must meet minimum efficiency standards to be set by MOIT in implementing circulars (pending as of April 2026). Crystalline PV panels are favoured over thin-film on fire safety grounds under Dispatch 3288/C07-P4.
In practice: the used-equipment prohibition cuts out a cost-cutting path that some developers had previously used — budget estimates for Decree 58-compliant projects should assume new Tier-1 modules and inverters, typically increasing capex by 10–20% over pre-2025 rough numbers.
Planning and land-use
Construction works with self-consumption RTS are not required to adjust land-use or functional planning. This resolves a long-standing ambiguity under prior regulations where RTS installations risked triggering planning amendments. However, this exemption does not eliminate the construction permit requirement itself — a repair or renovation permit may still be required under Decree 175/2024/ND-CP if the installation affects the building's force-bearing structure or other Article 89(2) conditions.
In practice: the planning exemption removes one administrative layer but not all — for industrial rooftop installations, the structural analysis and permit question remains a province-by-province case.
Commercial implications
Decree 58 is the primary regulatory path for any facility below the 200,000 kWh/month DPPA threshold — which is effectively every hotel, almost every SME, and most mid-size factories in Vietnam. The decree is deliberately permissive on who can install and under what model, but it constrains the commercial case through three hard levers: the 20% surplus cap, the approximately VND 671/kWh surplus sale price, and the capacity tier thresholds at 100 kW and 1,000 kW. Optimal system sizing under Decree 58 is driven by self-consumption load curves, not by roof area or yield maximisation.
- For hotels Decree 58 is the right path. Most hotel rooftops fall comfortably into the under-100 kW tier (small boutique) or the 100 kW to under 1,000 kW tier (mid-size resort). The 20% surplus cap rarely bites because hotels have strong daytime demand from air conditioning and laundry; the binding constraint is usually roof capacity, not regulation. The commercial case rests on displacing peak-tariff electricity, and the third-party lease model is increasingly dominant because hotel owners prefer operating-expense over capex. See how this applies to hotels →
- For factories Decree 58 sits alongside Decree 57 rather than in competition. Factories below 200,000 kWh/month choose self-consumption under Decree 58 as their only path; factories above the threshold weigh self-consumption plus DPPA as complementary strategies. For mid-size factories operating one or two shifts, Decree 58 self-consumption with battery storage delivers better economics than DPPA because it avoids CDPPA and the two-part tariff overlap. The 1,000 kW tier threshold is commonly triggered on single-warehouse installations. See how this applies to factories →
For any facility considering rooftop solar in 2026, the practical sequence is: (1) establish monthly consumption and daytime load profile, (2) size the system to 70–80% self-consumption under typical weather, (3) confirm which capacity tier applies and plan the licensing pathway accordingly, (4) lock in a new-equipment-only supply chain with Tier-1 panels and inverters, and (5) decide between owner-capex and third-party lease based on balance-sheet preferences rather than tax treatment — because CIT incentives for self-consumption are materially narrower than for grid-sale projects.
Worked example
A 60-room hotel in Mui Ne installing 220 kW of rooftop self-consumption
Setup
- FacilityBoutique hotel, 60 rooms, Mui Ne (Binh Thuan province), connected at 22 kV
- Consumption~48,000 kWh/month (mix of AC, laundry, lighting, kitchen)
- TOU split25% peak / 55% standard / 20% off-peak — typical hotel daytime-plus-evening profile
- Current EVN tariff22 kV business (kinh doanh): VND 5,025 peak / 2,887 standard / 1,609 off-peak per kWh (Decision 1279); blended ~VND 3,170/kWh at the TOU split above
- Usable roof~1,400 m² net of skylights, AC units, walkways
- Proposed system220 kWp, grid-connected, capacity tier "100 kW to under 1,000 kW"
The numbers
| Line item | Annual value |
|---|---|
| Expected annual generation (4.7 kWh/kWp/day × 365 × 220 kWp) | ~377,000 kWh |
| — Self-consumed (~80%) | ~302,000 kWh |
| — Surplus exported to EVN (within 20% cap) | ~75,500 kWh |
| Value of self-consumed electricity @ ~3,170 VND/kWh | VND 957 million |
| Value of surplus exported @ 671 VND/kWh | VND 51 million |
| Total annual revenue + savings | VND 1,008 million |
| Estimated capex (220 kWp × ~VND 16.5 million/kWp) | VND 3,630 million |
| Simple payback (capex ÷ annual savings) | ~3.6 years |
A 220 kWp rooftop system at a mid-size Mui Ne hotel delivers approximately VND 1,008 million per year in combined self-consumption savings and surplus sale revenue, against approximately VND 3.63 billion of capex — a simple payback around 3.6 years (USD ~39,500 per year in savings against a USD ~142,000 capex). The numbers make plain why surplus export is a marginal kicker rather than the core value: ~95% of the system value comes from displaced business-tariff electricity at ~VND 3,170/kWh blended, and only ~5% from the VND 671/kWh surplus sale. Under a third-party equipment lease structure, the hotel pays no upfront capex and a monthly lease fee, with the developer retaining the capex and tax position. If paired with a modest BESS for peak shaving against the forthcoming two-part tariff capacity charge (from 2028–2030 rollout, once hospitality enters scope), the combined payback drops further.
Source: Arcus Energy project analysis, anonymised. Rates referenced: 22 kV business (kinh doanh) TOU tariff under Decision 1279/QĐ-BCT (May 2025), Decree 58/2025 Article 8 surplus sale mechanism, approximate VND 671/kWh surplus rate from 2025 wholesale market average.
Frequently asked questions
What is Decree 58/2025 in Vietnam?
Decree 58/2025/ND-CP is the Vietnamese government decree governing rooftop solar systems installed for self-consumption. It took effect on 3 March 2025, replacing Decree 135/2024, and sets three capacity tiers with different licensing rules: under 100 kW (DOIT notification only), 100 kW to under 1,000 kW (DOIT plus EVN notification), and 1,000 kW and above (DOIT registration plus SCADA requirement).
Can I install solar on my hotel or factory roof?
Yes. Decree 58 allows any organisation or individual to install rooftop solar on residences, offices, factories, industrial zones, and production or business facilities. The licensing pathway depends on installed capacity, not on the owner's legal form. Systems under 100 kW require only DOIT notification; larger systems trigger additional approvals.
Do I need a licence to install rooftop solar?
Most hotels and SMEs do not. Systems under 1,000 kW require notifications to DOIT (and EVN above 100 kW) but no operating licence. Systems of 1,000 kW and above require DOIT registration for a development certificate and, if selling surplus, an electricity operation licence. Decree 61/2025/ND-CP governs the licensing pathway.
Can I sell surplus solar back to EVN?
Yes, up to 20% of monthly generated output for grid-connected systems. EVN pays the average wholesale market price of the preceding year — approximately VND 671/kWh (~US$0.027/kWh) as of 2025. Mountain, border, and island areas are exempt from the 20% cap. Systems not selling surplus must install a zero-export device.
What is the 20% export cap?
Decree 58 caps surplus electricity sales to EVN at 20% of a system's actual monthly generated output, measured in kilowatt-hours. The cap is designed to keep rooftop systems anchored to self-consumption rather than becoming commercial generators. Industrial facilities with variable demand often approach the cap on weekends and holidays.
What is the price for surplus solar sold to EVN?
Surplus sales are priced at the previous year's average wholesale market electricity price, not exceeding the maximum generation price framework for ground-mounted solar — approximately VND 671/kWh (~US$0.027/kWh) as of 2025. This is roughly one-third of a typical C&I retail tariff, so surplus export is value-destroying compared with self-consumption.
Can a third party install solar on my roof and sell me the electricity?
In practice yes, though the regulatory framework is not fully explicit. Decree 58 does not require the RTS developer to be the building owner, and MOIT has opined that engaging service providers is permissible under general civil transaction law. Four business models operate in Vietnam: corporate PPA, sale contract, service contract, and equipment lease.
What happens if I already have an FiT PPA from 2019 or 2020?
Existing 20-year PPAs signed under Decision 13/2020/QD-TTg at the 8.38 US-cents/kWh FiT rate remain in force at adjusted VND/USD rates. The FiT window closed on 31 December 2020, so no new projects qualify. If you are transferring ownership of a roof carrying an FiT PPA, the PPA transfer mechanics are a critical point to protect in the transaction.