Gov’t tries new RE auction — DoE

After a failed round last year, the Department of Energy, or DoE, plans a third round of Green Energy Auction, or GEA-3, this year to bolster the use of renewable energy, or RE.

The DoE announced on Monday that the GEA-3 specifically targets to cater to non-feed-In-tariff, or Non-FIT, eligible RE technologies.

These include geothermal, impounding hydro, and pumped-storage hydro under Department Circular DC2023-10-0029, which provides specific auction policies and guidelines for these Non-FIT RE technologies in the Green Energy Auction Program.

The GEA-3 will also include run-of-river Hydro, which is a FIT-Eligible RE technology.

Aside from “big bond requirements,” Energy Secretary Raphael Perpetuo Lotilla previously noted that the level of interest of concerned stakeholders dwindled after the GEA prices were announced.The DoE conducts GEA yearly to fast-track the government’s plan of integrating 35 percent renewable energy in the energy mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

The DoE estimated that the auction could generate 699 megawatts, or MW, from impounding hydro; 3,120 MW from Pumped-Storage Hydro; and 380 MW from Geothermal.

The Department of Energy said it hopes to award the GEA-3 contracts by 10 December.

The target delivery commencement period for both Impounding Hydro and Pumped-Storage Hydro shall be from 2028 to 2030 while for Geothermal, the DCP shall be from 2024 to 2030.

An estimated 200 MW of RE capacity from ROR Hydro is expected to be auctioned, with a target DCP beginning 2026 to 2028.

Through the administration of the GEA3, the DOE is not only paving the way for a more sustainable future but is also ensuring a transparent and competitive selection of RE facilities

To recall, the second round of green energy auction originally offered a total capacity of 11,600 MW installation target, with 3,600 MW for 2024, 3,600 MW for 2025, and 4,400 MW for 2026.

However, the DoE only secured 3,580.76 MW of renewable energy capacities from the second round, which was only about 30 percent of the total target.