The story. Vietnam now has 19 GW of installed solar capacity (IRENA), but the growth rate tells a more complicated story. The country added just 586 MW in 2025 — up from a near-stall of 79 MW in 2024, but far below the 1.6 GW installed in 2023. Rooftop systems are driving what growth there is, as utility-scale projects face grid bottlenecks and low feed-in tariffs.

The bigger picture. Despite all those panels, solar generated just 26 TWh in 2024 (Ember) — roughly 8% of Vietnam's electricity. Coal, by contrast, produced 153 TWh, nearly half the total. That coal dependence puts Vietnam's carbon intensity — how much CO2 it takes to produce a unit of electricity — at 484 gCO2/kWh (Ember, 2024), above the global average of 471 but well below the ASEAN regional average of 572, largely thanks to hydropower covering another 29% of generation. Vietnam's revised power plan targets 73 GW of solar by 2030, requiring roughly 11 GW per year — about 18 times the 2025 pace. New market reforms could help: a direct power purchase agreement mechanism introduced in early 2025 lets renewable generators sell electricity directly to large private buyers, bypassing Vietnam Electricity, the country's sole public power utility. A draft decree would also raise the cap on rooftop owners selling surplus power to the grid from 20% to 50%.

The tension. Vietnam has the hardware but not yet the grid or market structure to use it fully. Until transmission and tariff reform attract the private capital needed, installed capacity will keep outrunning actual generation — and coal will keep filling the gap.