While the demand for solar energy-based equipment has been increasing rapidly in Vietnam, many solar cell panel manufacturers have had to end their projects. According to Huynh Kim Tuoc, Director of the HCM City Energy Saving Center, Vietnam is believed to have great potential for solar energy development, estimated at 43.9 billion TOE (tons of oil equivalent). The energy is especially strong in the central and southern regions of the country, the areas with more hours of sunshine higher intensity of solar radiation. Therefore, the government has decided to gradually increase the proportions of new and renewable energy to 8 percent of the total preliminary power output by 2020. The figure will be 11 percent by 2050. In big cities, dwellers now can get the financial support of up to VND1 million for every solar energy machine they use from the local authorities. This financial support has given a push to the solar energy-based equipment market. A report by the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that the market has been witnessing a growth rate of 20 percent annually, with 42,000 solar energy-based water heaters sold in 2011. Demand is especially high in HCM City, where 30,000 water heaters are installed every year. One of every two newly built houses is equipped with a solar water heater. In 2009, Mat Troi Do Power JSC, owned by Tan Ky Nguyen Company and the HCM City Energy Saving Center, was set up in Vietnam as the first solar cell manufacturer in Vietnam. There are some 90 companies manufacturing and trading solar energy-based products, mostly water heaters, some of which have been exported to the neighboring markets of Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. However, while the demand is on the rise, some manufacturers have decided to leave the market. In April 2011, the US First Solar Group announced the termination of its $1.2 billion project in the Dong Nam Industrial Zone in HCM City, just eight months after the project kicked off. The Chu Lai Open Economic Zone’s Management Board in Quang Nam Province has confirmed that the $390 million project registered by the Dong Duong Energy Industry Corporation has asked for permission to delay the project’s implementation due to difficulties relating to the production technology and market. Most recently, the death of the $300 million project implemented by Worldtech JSC in Thua Thien-Hue Province was declared. Analysts note that, though market demand has been increasing rapidly, domestic manufacturers cannot gain “big pieces of the cake”. This has been attributed to the simplicity of the products and their small scales of production, which both make it difficult to compete with imports. The majority of the solar energy-based equipment manufacturers are just assembling machines from imported parts. Vacuum tubes, for example, have been imported from China, while solar panels have been sourced from Taiwan and Malaysia. Phan Minh Tan, Director of the HCM City Science & Technology Department, said Vietnam gives priority to using advanced technologies, suitable to Vietnam’s conditions, regardless of whether they are Chinese, American or European.                                                                                                                                          VietNamNet/Thien Nhien