Market

Diesel Generators for Vietnam

Vietnam runs on 50 Hz at 380/220 V, it is the fastest-growing generator market in Southeast Asia, and it is also the cheapest. That combination decides what a supplier can usefully offer: a set that arrives with the right voltage and frequency, a documented specification, and a price that survives the comparison against the sets assembled and sold inside the country.

Sets for Vietnamese projects are quoted at 50 Hz and 1500 rpm, 380/220 V three phase and neutral, mostly between 75 kVA and 375 kVA, in silent canopies for urban and commercial sites and open frame or skid builds where the plant room provides the protection.

Request a quote
Chat on WhatsApp

Local conditions

What is different about installing in Vietnam

Vietnamese electrical and site conditions that change a generator specification.
Item Condition What it changes
Frequency 50 Hz throughout the country 1500 rpm build; the set is ordered for 50 Hz, not converted afterwards
Voltage 380/220 V three phase and neutral, 50 Hz Alternator winding, breaker and cable sizing
Grid quality Improving quickly, but outages and voltage sag are still part of industrial life in the north Under-voltage protection and a transfer switch that does not chatter
Duty Standby for commercial buildings; prime for factories, aquaculture and quarry work Prime-rated sets for continuous duty, standby-rated for outage cover
Climate Humid year round, 35-40 °C in the south, cool and damp winters in the north Anti-condensation heaters, tropical radiator specification, panel heating
Typhoon exposure Central and northern provinces from July to November Anchoring, enclosure wind rating and a plant sited above flood level
Coastal sites Long coastline, aquaculture and port installations Salt-mist treatment, marine-grade fasteners, corrosion-protected radiator
Local competition Widely available assembled sets and a dense dealer network A documented specification and factory test sheet is what separates two otherwise similar quotations
Site access Good road access almost everywhere; containers are normal Containerized and skid builds are practical without special lifting plans

Market

The Vietnamese market at a glance

The figures below come from Chinese export customs statistics for diesel generating sets, which is the only public dataset that separates the market by power class.

Chinese diesel generator set exports to Vietnam, 2025, by power class.
Power class Position in 2025 Share of value What it means for a buyer
Up to 75 kVA The largest number of units Roughly a fifth of the value Price-driven volume, small commercial and residential standby
75-375 kVA The commercial core of the market Roughly a third of the value Factories, offices, hospitals, malls and aquaculture
375 kVA to 2 MVA About half the value on a small share of units About half Industrial plants, ports and larger commercial developments

Source: Chinese export customs statistics, aggregated by HS code and destination. Vietnam imported about 41,400 sets worth about USD 109 million in 2025, growing faster than any other market in the region – and at the lowest average value per set. A growing market with the lowest prices in Southeast Asia rewards a supplier who can be specific about what is inside the machine, because on price alone the quotation has nowhere left to go.

Configurations

What we quote for Vietnamese projects

Common Vietnamese requirements. Each rating links to its power range page.
Requirement Typical specification Fits Range page
100 kVA / 80 kW, 50 Hz Silent canopy or open frame depending on the plant room Offices, shops, clinics and small workshops 100 kVA
200 kVA / 160 kW, 50 Hz Silent canopy, automatic transfer Factories, hospitals and commercial buildings 200 kVA
300 kVA / 240 kW, 50 Hz Silent canopy, automatic transfer, load shedding Industrial plants and larger commercial sites 300 kVA
400-500 kVA / 320-400 kW, 50 Hz Silent canopy or containerized, two sets for redundancy Ports, heavy industry and larger facilities 400 kVA · 500 kVA

Delivery and service

How a Vietnamese project is supplied

Delivery ports, documentation and the service arrangement quoted with a Vietnamese project.
Item Arrangement
Ports CIF Ho Chi Minh City (Cat Lai or Cai Mep), Hai Phong or Da Nang; FOB on request
Inland delivery Quoted to the site where a local haulier is available, with offloading agreed before dispatch
Documents issued Commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading, certificate of origin for ACFTA Form E where it applies, factory test report, operation and maintenance manual
Clearance Import clearance is handled by the importer or their broker; we issue the documents the broker needs
Voltage and frequency Set wound and set for 50 Hz at 380/220 V before it leaves the works
Factory testing Load bank test at 100%, 75% and 50% with the test sheet issued against the serial number
Spares A first-year spares package is quoted with the set: filters, belts, hoses, seal kits and the sensors the controller reads
Documentation set Wiring diagram, control panel logic, spare parts list and the commissioning checklist, in English
Commissioning A supervised commissioning visit can be quoted with the set; the site provides labour, fuel and load bank
After-sales Technical support by email and WhatsApp from the works, with a named engineer on the project

What we do not claim: we do not hold a parts warehouse in Vietnam, and there is a dense local dealer network that already covers most of the country. What the quotation commits to is a documented specification, a factory test sheet issued against the serial number, and a spares package sized for the first year of running.

Questions

Questions we are asked about Vietnamese projects

What is the voltage and frequency in Vietnam?

50 Hz at 380/220 V three phase and neutral. The frequency is the same as Indonesia and Thailand and the opposite of the Philippines, which runs at 60 Hz. A set built for a Vietnamese site cannot be used on a Philippine project or the other way round, because the engine speed and the alternator rating are both different.

How do I compare two quotations that look identical?

Ask for the numbers that are not in the headline: the engine make and model, the alternator make and insulation class, the prime and standby ratings in both kVA and kW, the control panel model, the enclosure build and the dB(A) figure at 7 m, the tank volume and the fuel consumption at 100%, 75% and 50% load. Two 200 kVA quotations with different answers to those questions are not the same product at different prices.

Silent canopy or open frame?

Silent canopy where the set is heard by anyone who matters: offices, hospitals, hotels, residential neighbours. Open frame where the plant room already provides the acoustic and weather protection, and where the budget is better spent on the machine. Open frame is not a lesser product; it is the right product in a room that does the work the canopy would have done.

Which classes do you quote most in Vietnam?

Between 75 kVA and 375 kVA, which is where the commercial core of the Vietnamese market sits: factories, hospitals, commercial buildings and aquaculture. We also quote smaller sets down to 20 kVA and larger ones up to 2000 kVA, but the middle of the range is where most Vietnamese enquiries land.

Can you quote against a Vietnamese tender document?

Yes. Send the tender or the technical specification and we return a quotation for the clauses that affect the set: rating and duty, enclosure and noise, control and transfer, documentation and factory testing. Where a clause names a brand or a standard, say so in the enquiry so that the answer addresses it rather than working around it.

Related

Related pages for a Vietnamese project

Quoting a Vietnamese project?

Send the rating or the load list, the site voltage and frequency, the province and the port you want the set delivered to.

Request a quote

Scroll to Top
WhatsApp