To amend and supplement the regulations on the mechanism for mobilizing and developing gas-fired thermal power projects

On 08/5/2025, the Government issued Decree No. 100/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree No. 56/2025/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Electricity Law on electricity development planning, power supply network development plans, investment in power project construction and bidding for selection of investors in power business projects.

Specifically, Decree No. 100/2025/ND-CP amends and supplements a number of contents of Article 15 of Decree No. 56/2025/ND-CP to "The mechanism for ensuring consumption of domestically exploited natural gas sources; the principles of transferring fuel prices to electricity prices and long-term minimum contracted electricity output for gas-fired thermal power projects".

To amend and supplement Clause 3 and Clause 4, Article 15 of Decree No. 56/2025/ND-CP on the Mechanism for developing gas-fired thermal power projects in the direction of stipulating: "Gas-fired thermal power projects using domestically exploited natural gas shall be operated and mobilized at the maximum level according to the gas supply capacity, meeting the binding requirements on fuel, capacity and available power generation output of the gas-fired thermal power project, the demand and technical constraints of the national power system".

The amended Decree clearly states that this provision also applies to gas-fired thermal power projects for which a competent state agency issues a written notice approving the results of the investor's acceptance of the project completion and begins operating to generate electricity using domestically exploited natural gas before January 1, 2036. This mechanism shall continue to be applied until the time the gas-fired thermal power plant no longer uses domestically exploited natural gas for power generation.

In case the domestic natural gas supply capacity cannot meet the electricity generation demand of the gas-fired thermal power plant project, the Electricity Seller and the Electricity Buyer shall agree on the fuel usage plan and electricity price in the power purchase contract according to current regulations.

Regarding the mechanism for developing gas-fired thermal power projects using imported LNG, according to the provisions of the amended Decree, the long-term minimum contracted electricity output of the gas-fired thermal power project using imported LNG shall be agreed upon by the Electricity Seller and the Electricity Buyer in the power purchase contract to ensure the following principles:

The long-term minimum contracted electricity output shall not be lower than 65% of the average electricity output of the gas-fired thermal power project for many years. The long-term minimum contracted electricity output shall be applied during the principal and interest repayment period but shall not exceed 10 years from the date the project is put into operation for power generation;

After the period of applying the long-term minimum contracted power output, the contracted power output or the electricity rate paid according to the contract price for the remaining years shall be agreed upon by the Electricity Seller and the Electricity Buyer during the negotiation and agreement of the electricity purchase contract in accordance with relevant regulations;

The average electricity output for many years shall be determined according to the Regulations on methods for determining electricity generation service prices; principles for calculating electricity prices for implementing electricity projects; main contents of the electricity purchase contract issued by the Minister of Industry and Trade and stipulated in the electricity purchase contract.

This regulation shall apply to gas-fired thermal power projects using imported LNG for which the competent state agency has issued a written notice approving the results of the investor's acceptance of the project completion and starting to generate electricity using imported LNG before January 1, 2031.

In addition, Decree No. 100/2025/ND-CP also amends and supplements Point a, Clause 5 and Point a, Clause 6, Article 15 of Decree No. 56/2025/ND-CP on the responsibilities of the Electricity Buyer, the Electricity Seller, the National Power System Dispatch Center and the Electricity Market Transaction Operator.

This Decree takes effect from the date of signing and promulgation.