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Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) are considered crucial energy infrastructure in Vietnam’s green transition. Given ambitious sustainable energy development goals and the current market landscape, BESS is opening up a significant investment gateway.
Market Opportunities and Growth Potential
The revised Power Development Plan VIII (PDP VIII) sets an ambitious target for BESS capacity development, aiming for 10,000 MW to 16,300 MW by 2030 (accounting for approximately 5.5–6.9% of the total national power generation capacity).
Currently, the installed BESS capacity in Vietnam is only under 100 MW (as of late 2024/early 2025). This gap of over 16 GW represents a massive potential for growth and investment in less than 10 years. With wind and solar power capacity exceeding 23 GW (27% of the total system), BESS is an imperative solution to address power shortages in the North, localized grid congestion, and optimize curtailed renewable energy.
Value and Opportunities Provided by BESS
| Value | Opportunity |
| Renewable Energy Optimization | Stores surplus electricity from solar power during off-peak hours (noon) to discharge during peak hours (late afternoon/evening), minimizing resource curtailment. |
| Behind-the-Meter Solutions | Reduces high Time-of-Use (TOU) electricity costs for large commercial consumers, decreases reliance on the grid, and ensures continuous power supply (especially for cold storage, data centers). |
| Compliance with Import Policies | Helps businesses reduce their carbon footprint in production, meeting green standards for global supply chains (such as the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism – CBAM). |
| Renewable Energy Optimization | Increases the efficiency of existing Renewable Energy (RE) assets, especially large solar projects that are required to integrate BESS according to PDP VIII. |
| Behind-the-Meter Solutions | Investment in industrial-scale BESS (C&I) for industrial parks, logistics, and factories requiring stable 24/7 power and high consumption. |
| Compliance with Import Policies | Provides a strategic green solution, enhancing export competitiveness for Vietnamese businesses. |
Regulatory Framework and Key Challenges
Mandatory Integration and Prioritization
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has issued Circulars 09/2025/TT-BCT and 12/2025/TT-BCT. These circulars mainly regulate the pricing methodology for storage systems directly combined with renewable energy plants. Notably, these regulations have created a mandatory market demand: centralized solar power projects now must integrate a storage system with a minimum capacity of 10% of the installed capacity, capable of storing electricity for at least 2 hours. Furthermore, according to Decree 58/2025/ND-CP, which details several articles of the Electricity Law regarding the development of renewable energy and new energy, RE projects integrated with a storage system and connected to the national grid will be prioritized for mobilization, especially during peak hours.
The Biggest Legal Challenge: Standalone BESS
The greatest legal challenge lies with independently invested BESS projects (not accompanying an RE power plant). To establish a basis for electricity trading and attract investment capital for this segment, MOIT is researching and developing a new pricing mechanism. This mechanism is proposed to be a two-component price model, similar to the model being developed for pumped-storage hydropower plants:
Capacity Price: Payment based on the availability and readiness of the BESS system to provide services to the grid.
Energy Price: Payment based on the actual amount of electricity the system feeds into the grid.
Developing this two-component price mechanism is a strategic step to encourage financing and accurately reflect the value of BESS in providing crucial ancillary services to the national power grid.
Other Legal and Technical Challenges
Despite the significant potential, Vietnam’s BESS market is still in its early stages and faces legal challenges such as:
Lack of a Circular regulating the methodology for determining the price of power generation services/ancillary services from BESS. High investment costs and high policy risk due to a lack of experience in operating large-scale BESS. Lack of unified standards and technical safety regulations related to BESS.
Current standards applied in Vietnam are based on international standards such as:
