New regulations on conditions for granting electricity operation licenses

Conditions for granting electricity operation license in the field of power generation

According to the Decree, an organization is granted a license to operate in the electricity generation sector when it meets the following conditions:

1. Organizations legally established in accordance with the provisions of law, including: enterprises of all economic sectors established and operating in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Enterprises, cooperatives established and operating in accordance with the Law on Cooperatives; other organizations established in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.

2. Have at least 01 technical manager with at least 05 years of working experience in the power generation field and a university degree or higher in one of the following majors: electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, electronics, automation or other engineering or technical technology fields.

3. At least 04 people directly involved in the operation must be trained and tested to meet the requirements for operating the power plant according to regulations on dispatching and operating the national power system; trained and tested to meet the requirements according to regulations on electrical safety and meet the following professional conditions:

a) Have a university degree or higher in engineering for power generation projects with a capacity of over 30 MW;

b) Have a college degree or higher in engineering for power generation projects with capacity from 10 MW to 30 MW;

c) Have a secondary school diploma or equivalent in engineering for power generation projects with a capacity of less than 10 MW.

4. There are construction items and power generation works that are consistent with the development planning, electricity, power supply network development plan in the provincial planning, power development plan implementation plan, provincial planning implementation plan, including the content of the power supply network development plan and adjustment decisions (if any), except for the cases specified in Point a, Point b, Clause 5, Article 10 of the Electricity Law.

5. Have a project whose investment policy has been decided or approved by a competent state agency in accordance with the provisions of the law on investment, except for investment projects that do not need to be approved in principle.

6. There is a decision approving the results of the appraisal of the environmental impact assessment report for projects that must conduct environmental impact assessment; for projects that do not require environmental impact assessment, there is an environmental license or environmental registration.

7. The project has been allocated land or leased land by a competent state agency, and assigned sea areas to implement the project.

8. For hydroelectric plants: have a process for operating hydroelectric reservoirs; have an emergency response plan, and have a plan to protect dams and hydroelectric reservoirs approved according to the provisions of the Electricity Law.

9. There are construction items and power generation works whose fire prevention and fighting acceptance results have been approved by competent authorities according to the provisions of the Law on Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue.

10. There are construction items and power generation works built and installed according to approved designs, meeting the conditions for putting construction items and works into operation and use.

11. For rooftop solar power that is self-produced, self-consumed and sells surplus electricity to the national power system or participates in the direct electricity trading mechanism through a separate connected power grid, a certificate of registration for rooftop solar power development must be issued by a competent authority and meet the conditions in the following cases:

a) Projects with an installed capacity of 01 MW to less than 10 MW must satisfy the provisions in clauses 1, 4, 5, 6, 9 and clause 10 above;

b) Projects with an installed capacity of 10 MW or more must satisfy the provisions from Clauses 1 to 7, 9 and 10 above.

Conditions for granting electricity operation license in the field of electricity transmission

An organization is granted a license to operate electricity in the field of electricity transmission when it meets the following conditions:

1. Organizations legally established in accordance with the provisions of law, including: enterprises of all economic sectors established and operating in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Enterprises, cooperatives established and operating in accordance with the Law on Cooperatives; other organizations established in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.

2. Have at least 01 technical manager with at least 05 years of working experience in the field of power transmission and a university degree or higher in one of the following majors: electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, electronics, automation or other engineering or technical technology fields.

3. At least 04 people directly involved in the operation must be trained and tested to meet the requirements for operating the transmission grid according to regulations on dispatching and operating the national power system; trained and tested to meet the requirements according to regulations on electrical safety and meet the following professional conditions:

a) Have a university degree or higher in engineering for transmission grids with voltage levels equal to or greater than 500 kV;

b) Have a college degree or higher in engineering for transmission grids with voltage level of 220 kV.

4. Have construction items and power transmission works in accordance with the power development plan, the plan to implement the power development plan and adjustment decisions (if any).

5. Have a project whose investment policy has been decided or approved by a competent state agency in accordance with the provisions of the law on investment, except for investment projects that do not need to be approved in principle.

6. There is a decision approving the results of the appraisal of the environmental impact assessment report for projects that must conduct environmental impact assessment; for projects that do not require environmental impact assessment, there is an environmental license or environmental registration.

7. The project has been allocated land or leased land by a competent state agency, and assigned sea areas to implement the project.

8. There are construction items and power transmission grid works whose fire prevention and fighting acceptance results have been approved by competent authorities according to the provisions of the Law on Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue.

9. There are construction items and power transmission grid works built and installed according to approved designs, meeting the conditions for putting the construction items and works into operation and use.

Conditions for granting electricity operation license in the field of electricity distribution

An organization is granted a license to operate in the field of electricity distribution when it meets the following conditions:

1. Organizations legally established in accordance with the provisions of law, including: enterprises of all economic sectors established and operating in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Enterprises, cooperatives established and operating in accordance with the Law on Cooperatives; other organizations established in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.

2. Have at least 01 technical manager with at least 03 years of working experience in the field of electricity distribution and a university degree or higher in one of the following majors: electrical engineering, electrical engineering technology, electronics, automation or other engineering or technical technology fields.

3. There must be at least 04 people directly involved in the operation meeting the following conditions:

a) Have a secondary school diploma or equivalent in engineering;

b) Trained and tested to meet the requirements for operating the distribution grid according to regulations on dispatching and operating the national power system and trained and tested to meet the requirements according to regulations on electrical safety.

4. There are construction items and power distribution grid works that are consistent with the power supply network development plan in the provincial planning, the provincial planning implementation plan, including the content of the power supply network development plan and adjustment decisions (if any), except for the case specified in Point c, Clause 5, Article 10 of the Electricity Law.

5. There is a distribution grid project for which the competent state agency has decided on the investment policy or approved the investment policy according to the provisions of the law on investment or is on the list of medium-voltage and low-voltage grids approved by the provincial People's Committee according to the provisions of Point a, Clause 3, Article 13 of the Electricity Law, except for investment projects that do not need to be approved in principle.

6. The project has been allocated land or leased land by a competent state agency, and assigned sea areas to implement the project.

7. There are construction items and power distribution grid works whose fire prevention and fighting acceptance results have been approved by competent authorities according to the provisions of the Law on Fire Prevention, Fire Fighting and Rescue.

8. There are construction items and distribution grid works built and installed according to approved designs, meeting the conditions for putting the construction items and works into operation and use.

Conditions for granting electricity operation license in the field of electricity wholesale

An organization is granted a license to operate electricity in the field of electricity wholesale when it meets the following conditions:

1. Organizations legally established in accordance with the provisions of law, including: enterprises of all economic sectors established and operating in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Enterprises; cooperatives established and operating in accordance with the Law on Cooperatives; other organizations established in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.

2. Have a plan for wholesale electricity operations.

3. Have at least 01 wholesale electricity business manager with a university degree or higher in one of the following fields: technology, electrical engineering, economics, finance or other training fields and have at least 05 years of working experience in the field of electricity trading.

Conditions for granting electricity operation license in the field of electricity retail

An organization is granted a license to operate in the field of electricity retail when it meets the following conditions:

1. Organizations legally established in accordance with the provisions of law, including: enterprises of all economic sectors established and operating in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Enterprises; cooperatives established and operating in accordance with the Law on Cooperatives; other organizations established in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.

2. Have a plan for electricity retail operations.

3. Have at least 01 person managing the electricity retail business, with a university degree or higher in one of the following fields: technology, electrical engineering, economics, finance or other training fields and have at least 03 years of working experience in the field of electricity trading.

This Decree takes effect from the date of signing and promulgation (March 4, 2025).