First green energy auction slated in October

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy has partnered with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to finally implement the country’s first green energy auction (GEA) by October.

DOE assistant secretary Redentor Delola said the agency postponed the GEA to late this year from the original target of June as it revised the auction design due to a reduction in demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DOE is working with the USAID to meet the new target for the auction.

“USAID is helping us on this one and we really appreciate their support. In terms of schedule, what we’re looking at is, hopefully, we’ll be able to complete the entire process by October this year,” Delola said.

In delaying the auction schedule, the DOE took into account the effect of the pandemic on demand from distribution utilities (DUs), the main off-takers.

Delola said the new design of GEA is primarily based on the need for additional capacity in the system while addressing the compliance to the RE supply requirement in the portfolio based on the clean energy scenario (CES) laid down by the agency.

He said the volumes generated from the auction would be scheduled through the market and no longer with the DU.

“To be able to reach that dream of 35 percent renewable energy (RE) supply by 2030 and a higher percentage by 2040, we need to recalibrate the volumes that will be subjected to auction, and we will also recalibrate on who the off-takers will be for the volumes that will be auctioned off,” he said.

To support a low carbon future, the country needs to install a total of 44,761 megawatts (MW) of additional renewable energy capacity to achieve the levels set in the CES.

That is why the DOE is prioritizing the issuance of National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) 2020-2040, which sets the target of around 34,000 MW of RE installations by 2040.

The  GEAP will facilitate supply contracting by qualified suppliers with eligible customers under a competitive process.

The agency was earlier looking at initially offering 2,000 MW in June.