Green energy auction set to start next month

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) has set the country’s first green energy auction (GEA) next month.

In an advisory posted on its website, the DOE said it revised the timeline for the conduct of the GEA on or before June 17 and the notice of award by June 24.

Meanwhile, a pre-bid conference is scheduled on or before June 1.

“The pre-bid conference and all subsequent activities shall only be conducted upon the release of the green energy auction reserve (GEAR) prices by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on or before May 30,” the DOE said.

With the new timeline, the conduct of GEAP comes after a year it was originally scheduled to take place.

The June 2021 launch was deferred as the DOE revised the auction design due to a reduction in demand because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the first GEA, the DOE will auction off 2,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy (RE) capacity across the country, as indicated in the notice of auction published in January.

Broken down per region, the agency will bid out 1,400 MW in Luzon, 400 MW in Visayas and 200 MW in Mindanao.

Earlier this month, the DOE issued the terms of reference (TOR) which require qualified bidders to register by submitting a letter of intent to the Green Energy Auction–Bids Evaluation and Awards Committee (GEA-BEAC).

Registration will be open from May 21 to 24, with the agency releasing a list of qualified bidders by the end of the month.

The GEA will be done through an electronic bidding platform.

According to the DOE, the platform will feature a user interface with user editable cells for qualified bidders to input their bid information including the capacity, price and target supply delivery commencement date.

The DOE earlier said the GEA process would begin once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) issues the GEAR price.

In March, the ERC issued the preliminary price cap per technology – P3.6248 per kwh for solar, P5.2887 per kwh for wind, P5.548 per kwh for biomass and P5.8705 per kwh for run-of-river hydro.

The GEAP will support and facilitate the compliance of industry players to the Renewable Portfolio Standards’ (RPS) Rules.

RPS is a mechanism under the RE Act of 2008 where DUs, electric cooperatives (ECs) and retail electricity suppliers (RES) are prescribed to source a percentage of electricity requirements from RE sources. The RPS level is currently set at one percent until 2022.