More than 600 renewable energy (RE) contracts have been awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE), nearly 7 years since the RE Law was enacted into law.
As of end-January 2015, the total of 622 contracts awarded have a potential generation capacity of 9,943 megawatts (MW), as against a total installed capacity of 2,541.62MW, the agency said.
Of the 590 RE projects awarded by the government, 397 are hydro power; 60, solar; 50, wind; 42 for biomass, 41 for geothermal; and 6 for ocean energy. These contracts were awarded for grid use.
There were also 32 renewable energy contracts awarded for self-generation of electricity. These include one each for hydro and wind; 9 for solar; and 21 for biomass.
Pending projects
The latest DOE data also showed that there are 175 pending RE projects, 125 of which are hydro; 34, solar; 4, ocean; two biomass; 6, wind; and 4, geothermal.
The potential generation capacity of these pending RE projects could reach 1,746.70MW as against an installed capacity of 697.80MW.
Under the National Renewable Energy Plan, the DOE aims to increase the country’s renewable energy generation to 15,304 MW by 2030.
The DOE has already streamlined the process of RE applications from two years down to 45 days to ensure that RE developers and investors will have an easier time in applying for service contracts.
The government is banking on the feed-in-tariff (FIT) system to promote the use of RE on a larger scale and to attract new investments for RE facilities. Approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission in July 2012, the FIT rate in the Philippines is considered to be one of the lowest in the world, the government said.
“The FIT is a testament that while RE seems to be more expensive than traditional energy sources, admittedly, it is needed because it is essential to the country’s energy security,” DOE Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla previously said.
