THE Department of Energy (DoE) said it has dropped run-of-river hydro from the third round of the green energy auction (GEA-3), which will be delayed to next month.
“The DoE will exclude the run-of-river (RoR) hydro from GEA-3 in view of the ongoing Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) System for RoR Hydro, which to date remain undersubscribed,” the department said in a statement at the weekend.
Consequently, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) will no longer release the green energy auction reserve price, or the ceiling price used in the auction, for RoR.
Run-of-river, a technology initially offered in the GEA, is also eligible for FIT.
GEA and FIT programs are both designed to promote renewable energy. GEA conducts competitive bidding to determine prices, whereas FIT offers fixed rates set by the government.
Both programs are aimed at increasing the share of renewable energy in the power generation mix.
“The DoE will continue supporting and providing appropriate market mechanisms for RoR Hydro and other emerging RE technologies,” it said.
With the exclusion of RoR, the DoE is set to offer non-FIT eligible technologies such as geothermal, impounding hydro, and pumped-storage hydro with a total capacity of 4,650 megawatts (MW).
The government will auction 100 MW worth of geothermal capacity, 300 MW of impounding hydro, and 4,250 MW of pumped-storage hydro.
The auction proper for GEA-3 is scheduled on Feb. 11.
ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa C. Dimalanta confirmed the exclusion of RoR, saying that the commission had to defer a resolution on the GEA price of RoR due to the issue of “parallel implementation” of the FIT and GEA.
“We were asking if it’s possible to actually to parallel programs because (RoR) has FIT… Then the DoE decided to retain it under FIT so we will now sit down and discuss a revision to the FIT rate,” Ms. Dimalanta said at a briefing on Monday.
The government held the first GEA in 2022, auctioning off 1,996.93 MW worth of renewables, while the second round was concluded in 2023, auctioning off 3,440.756 MW. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera