The Energy Department is taking steps to put up the country’s first Renewable Energy (RE) market which will be a venue for issuance, trading and monitoring of RE certificates to comply with the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS).
According to the RE Act, the RPS is a market-based policy that requires electricity suppliers to source an agreed portion of their energy supply from eligible RE sources.
The RPS is seen to contribute to the growth of the renewable energy industry by diversifying energy supply and helping address environmental concerns of the country by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This will be imposed on all electric power industry participants serving on grid areas on a per grid basis upon determination by the New and Renewable Energy Board (NREB).
In compliance with its mandate under the RE Law, the DoE issued Department Circular No. 2010-02-0001 which created a Steering Committee on the Establishment of RE Market.
The committee will formulate and establish the framework that will govern the operation of the RE Market.
Aside from the DoE, the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) has formed a group to coordinate with the DoE steering committee through Department Order No. 2010-06- 0012.
The Joint Secretariat is composed of members from the DoE’s Electric Power Industry Management Bureau (EPIMB), Energy Policy and Planning Bureau (EPPB) and Renewable Energy Management Bureau (REMB); and PEMC’s Billing, Settlement and Metering Department (BSMD), Corporate Planning Group (CPG), Information Systems Technology Group (ISTG), Market Assessment Group (MAG) and Trading Operations Group (TOG).
The PEMC provides secretariat and technical support to facilitate the operationalization of the RE Market.
The DoE is now actively coordinating with PEMC and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) in the determination of the maximum penetration limit and procedures for the qualification and registration of eligible RE facilities with intermittent RE resources.
Several discussions had been undertaken already by DoE and PEMC on the regulatory framework of the RE Market including the study of different RE Market models and trading of RE Certificates.
Under the proposed RPS rules, there would be priority connections to the grid for electricity generated from emerging RE Resources such as wind, solar, ocean, run-of-river hydropower and biomass power plants within the territory of the Philippines.
