On 4 July 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 272/2026/ND-CP (“Decree 272“), which fleshes out Articles 4, 10, 11, 12 and 15 of National Assembly Resolution No. 253/2025/QH15 dated 11 December 2025 on national energy development mechanisms for 2026-2030 (“Resolution 253“). It took effect the same day it was issued and will remain in force until 31 December 20301. It is particularly significant because it establishes Vietnam’s detailed framework for the development phase of offshore wind projects, including investor qualification criteria, survey rights, and differentiated approval pathways for projects expected to operate in 2025-2030 versus 2031-2035.
1. Power Planning – Expedited Adjustment and Update Procedures
Article 4 of Resolution 253 creates a dedicated, simplified mechanism, separate from the ordinary planning-adjustment procedure under Vietnam’s general law on planning, for updating and adjusting the National Power Development Plan and provincial power supply network development plans. Decree 272 gives this special adjustment regime real teeth by putting in place a streamlined, fully electronic process for adjusting and updating the National Power Development Plan and provincial power supply network development plans.
The division of labor differs depending on which plan is at stake. For the National Power Development Plan, the Provincial People’s Committee (PPC) puts together the dossier and sends it to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), which appraises it and issues approval by way of a MOIT decision. For the provincial power supply network plan, the PPC again prepares the dossier, but this time the PPC Chairman signs off.2 Everything is filed electronically, and where the documents are too bulky, a link or QR code will do.3
2. Offshore Wind – Survey Entity Qualifications
Under Decree 272, a “survey entity” is an organization applying for a sea area allocation to survey a prospective offshore wind site. To qualify, it needs to clear three hurdles:4
First, financial capacity. The entity needs equity of at least VND 1 billion for every MW of offshore wind capacity it is seeking sea area allocation for, and if it has several projects in the pipeline, that threshold is measured against the combined MW across all of them.5 It can prove this with audited financial statements for the last two years, a financial support commitment from its parent company, or other documents that make the case.6
Second, technical and other qualifications: the entity must meet the capability requirements in points (a), (b), (e) and (f) of clause 1, Article 26 of Decree No. 58/2025/ND-CP on renewable energy development.7
Third, a no-reimbursement commitment: the entity has to accept upfront that it will bear all survey costs itself, with no right to reimbursement under any circumstances – the one exception being a wholly state-owned enterprise (SOE) that has been assigned the task by the competent authority under the Law on Electricity No. 61/2024/QH15.8
3. Offshore Wind – Investor Qualification for IPA Applications
Enterprises putting together an investment policy approval (IPA) application for an offshore wind project that will sell electricity to the national grid – whether it is slated to operate in 2025-2030 or 2031-2035 – need to satisfy the following:9
Equity and financing: at least 20% of total project investment has to come from equity, and the balance needs a loan commitment already secured from a bank, a foreign bank branch, or other credit institution.10
Foreign enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises face an extra layer: they also have to comply with points (c), (d) and (e) of clause 1, Article 28 of Decree No. 58/2025/ND-CP, and their investment capital contribution ratio in the project cannot fall below 15%.11
Domestic enterprises with no foreign members or shareholders get a lower bar: a minimum investment capital contribution ratio of 5%.12
For consortiums, these thresholds are not tested member by member – they are measured against the group’s combined equity.13
4. Offshore Wind – Application Handling: 2025–2030 Projects
For offshore wind projects due to sell into the national grid and operate between 2025 and 2030, a few procedural rules are worth flagging.
IPA filed with the Ministry of Finance (MOF): MOF will not touch an IPA application where the project’s sea area is currently allocated to a survey entity, or where the proposed area overlaps with sea area already allocated for another offshore wind project’s survey – unless the survey entity itself is the one applying (on its own or through a consortium), and does so within the survey period and within its allocated area.14
Sea area allocation comes after IPA, not before: the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MOAE) will only take in sea area allocation applications for a project’s survey once the Prime Minister has granted IPA together with investor approval for that project. The exception is where an existing survey entity is asking for additional sea area, which is allowed subject to the overall area cap.15
First valid filing wins: if more than one application comes in for the same project name in the power development plan, the authorities work through them strictly in the order within which the complete, valid dossiers were received, as shown on the dossier receipt slip. MOF will not consider a later applicant’s dossier – it gets returned – until the first valid application has been resolved.16
5. Offshore Wind – Application Handling: 2031–2035 Projects
For projects targeting 2031-2035, the sequencing is different. MOAE accepts and appraises sea area survey applications under the law on marine and island resources and environment17; the PPC Chairman of the province where the project’s capacity aggregation point sits will only take IPA applications once actual field survey results for the allocated sea area18 are in hand; and investor selection follows the usual investment, bidding, electricity and other applicable laws.19
6. SOE Survey Cost Recovery
Where a wholly SOE has run offshore wind surveys ahead of a competitive tender and a winning investor comes out of that process, it gets its survey and IPA preparation costs back – but only once those costs have been independently audited. The mechanics depend on how the project shakes out: if the SOE ends up as a joint-venture investor, each co-investor pays back its share pro rata to its equity stake before being confirmed as project investor; if the project instead goes to outside bidders, the winning bidder has to reimburse the full survey and IPA preparation cost before it is approved. Either way, the money the SOE recovers is booked as its revenue.20
Implications for Investors
Decree 272 is the first real, end-to-end implementing framework for Resolution 253, and it closes several procedural gaps that had left offshore wind and grid investment stuck in limbo. Developers eyeing 2025-2030 offshore wind projects should not sit on their dossiers: the first-valid-filed rule rewards whoever files a complete application first, and there is no do-over if a competitor beats you to it. Foreign developers in particular need to budget for the 15% minimum equity contribution and factor in the extra time needed to clear Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Foreign Affairs sign-off as part of the IPA appraisal. Grid investors come out ahead here too, with a single-point filing mechanism and fixed statutory approval timelines. And wherever an SOE has run the initial survey, every investor in that project should be building the eventual reimbursement obligation into its financial model from day one.
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.
- Decree 272, Articles 1 & 2; Article 13.1 ↩︎
- Resolution No. 253/2025/QH15, Article 4(4); Decree 272, Articles 3–4 ↩︎
- Decree 272, 3.5 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 5.1 & 5.2 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 5.2(a) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 5.3(a); 5.3(b) & 5.3(c) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 5.2(b) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 5.2(c); ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 8.1. ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 8.1(a) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 8.1(b) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 8.1(c) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 8.2 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 9.1 & 9.3 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 9.2 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 9.5(a) & 9.5(b) ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 10.1 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 10.2 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 10.5 ↩︎
- Decree 272, Article 6.2 & 6.3 ↩︎
DFDL offers expert Corporate and M&A solutions across 10 ASEAN jurisdictions. Explore our Vietnam team.
