WSG Article: Power Plant Operators Must Report Regulatory Compliance to EVN by 30 June

Power Plant Operators Must Report Regulatory Compliance to EVN by 30 June

June, 2022 - Ramandeep Singh Bhamra

DFDL would like to inform you that:

On 21 and 23 June 2022, EVN/Electricity Power Trading Company (“EPTC”) issued respectively official letter no. 4024/EPTC-KDMD and official letter 4077/EPTC-KDMD (“EPTC’s Official Letter”) to project owners of power plants in Vietnam requesting projects owners to review and report on regulatory compliance of their relevant power plants. EPTC Official Letter listed 349 power plants of all types: coal, fuel oil, hydro, solar and wind projects. This means EPTC’s requirement applies to all power projects in Vietnam.
EPTC’s Official Letter is a follow-up action after the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam’s instruction to review compliance with provisions of signed Power Purchase Agreements (“PPA”) between EVN/EPTC and the relevant power project companies.
EPTC’s Official Letter specifically refers to the provision of “undertaking/commitment to implement [the project]” in the relevant PPA and listed such specific clause in its attached Appendix 2. For instance, the undertaking/commitment clause in respect of solar or wind projects provides that “the execution and implementation of this Contract [PPA] by each party is compliant with conditions and contents of the Electricity Operating License and provisions of relevant laws”.
EVN/EPTC requested all project owners of power plants to review [its situation] and report in writing to EVN/EPTC before 30 June 2022 for its information collection and further reporting to competent authorities. EPTC’s Official Letter does not provide information as to the form or content of the report that the project owners need to submit to EPTC. However, we are aware that that in practice EPTC provided an outline of information that project owners should follow considering the specific status of each power plant, such information includes:

1. Key information of project;
2. Information on the investment and construction of the project conducted in accordance with the law;
3. Execution of the PPA based on applicable regulations;
4. Key approvals of the project having been obtained, including: (i) investment policy decision, (ii) land decisions/approvals, (iii) basic design/technical design, (iv) technical agreements with EVN, (v) electricity operating license, (vi) compliance with the required conditions to maintain the electricity operating license, and (vii) acceptance of the project by MOIT prior to putting the project into operation.

Finally, based EPTC’s guidance (in practice), project owners must make a conclusion on regulatory compliance with respect to their power plants. We expect that EVN will rely upon this self-made conclusion as part of their further verification process.

The information provided here is for information purposes only, and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Legal advice should be obtained from qualified legal counsel for all specific situations.