DOE issues new GEAP guidelines

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued the guidelines for the revised Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP), as part of efforts to help the country achieve its renewable energy (RE) goals.

“The GEAP is a new market development support program introduced by the DOE to promote RE as one of the country’s primary sources of energy through the transparent and competitive selection of RE facilities,”  Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a statement.

“This supports the government’s goal of attaining energy security through the entry of new capacities in the grid,”he said.

Cusi said the GEAP also assists the mandated participants of the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) in complying with their prescribed minimum RPS requirements.

The GEAP will consist of two components, particularly the green energy tariff and the green energy auction.

The green energy tariff will provide price signals on the commercial value of electricity generated from RE facilities resulting from a competitive process, and set the benchmark price for distribution utilities (DUs) under the Opt-in Mechanism.

In contrast, the green energy auction will facilitate the determination of RE facilities that are eligible under the GEAP.

The Green Energy Auction shall be administered by the DOE through the Green Energy Auction Committee (GEAC).

Among the new and existing capacities that may be offered for bidding under the green energy auction are RE facilities that were built and will be built after the RE Act, with no legal impediment, such as the existence of a power purchase agreement/power supply agreement with any DU or other off-takers at the time of the agreed delivery dates.

The additional capacities of RE facilities that were built and commercially operating prior to the effectivity of the RE Act, but have undergone expansion or upgrading projects may also be offered under the green energy auction.

Such capacity,however, is independent of the facilities’ existing units, and shall be separately installed with its metering facility.

For geothermal and impounding hydropower facilities, the DOE upon recommendation of GEAC, shall develop a specific auction policy and guidelines or a separate remuneration package under the green energy auction.

“Other emerging RE technologies may be included in the GEAP and the FIT (feed-in-tariff), consistent with the RE Act, as determined by the DOE,”the guidelines said.

Meanwhile, the new guidelines also adopt certain mechanisms under the feed-in-tariff, such as central dispatch, to be sold through the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) as priority dispatch.

It also introduces an “Opt-In Mechanism,” which would allow any distribution utility (DU) to procure portions of the capacity auctioned to allow the DUs to procure supply in a competitive environment and, at the same time, comply with its minimum RPS requirements.

“The implementation of GEAP is seen to encourage greater private sector participation in the generation sector through RE,”Cusi said.

With GEAP, the country’s RE program will be met particularly in achieving 35 percent RE share in the generation mix by 2030,”Cusi said.