INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines —Despite a relatively low turnout in its previous auction, the Department of Energy (DOE) is set to bid out 4,399 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacities in August to further ramp up the country’s clean energy supply.
The agency on Monday said the third Green Energy Auction Program (GEA 3) would cater specifically to geothermal and impounding, pumped-storage and run-of-river hydropower facilities.
A total of 699 MW of impounding hydro capacity will be auctioned off, while 3,120 MW must come from pumped-storage hydro facilities, 200 MW from run-of-river hydro, and 380 MW from geothermal.
Geothermal capacities must be available by 2024 to 2030, while those of impounding and pumped-storage hydro must be delivered by 2028 to 2030.
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Run-of-river hydro capacities, meanwhile, need to be available by 2026 to 2028, according to the DOE.
Developers with existing service contracts will be among the “considerations” of the agency in the GEA 3, it said.
No price caps on geothermal
“Through the administration of the GEA 3, the DOE is not only paving the way for a more sustainable future but is also ensuring a transparent and competitive selection of [renewable energy] facilities,” the DOE said in a statement.
The notice of auction, along with the terms of reference, will be issued on April 29. The auction is scheduled on Aug. 21.
The DOE confirmed that there would be no price caps on geothermal, impounding hydro and pumped-storage hydro capacities, and that developers of these technologies would have to submit their own price offers.
These will be reviewed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
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The three technologies are not eligible for the government-mandated Feed-in-Tariff (FIT), a financial incentive for renewable energy developers. Consumers pay a uniform charge of P0.0364 per kilowatt-hour in their monthly electricity bills to fund the FIT Allowance.
ERC Chair Monalisa Dimalanta previously explained that they opted to remove the price cap, or the Green Energy Auction Reserve (GEAR), for this round of bidding as stakeholders had noted that the prices set for the previous GEA were “too low.”