New DOE policy mix to include RE portfolio

The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to issue today a new policy mix that would incorporate the growing renewable energy (RE) portfolio in the country, outgoing Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said.

“We will come up with a policy where there will be 30 percent installed capacity for RE. I will be releasing this (today),” Petilla said in a recent meeting with editors of The STAR.

He said this fuel policy mix on RE, while non-firm, would increase RE capacity in the country from the current 28 percent.

Under the new policy mix, both RE and liquefied natural gas would each have a 30-percent share while the balance would be shared by the existing fuel sources in the country such as coal and diesel among others.

“Eventually, what we want is for wind to compete with coal,” Petilla said.

He also said there is room to increase the share of RE, thus a system impact study will be done to assets the impact of RE on the grid.

“NGCP will do the system impact study,” he said.

Petilla said that the mix is non-firm which means it cannot be mandated in the Philippines because the power generator sector is market driven.

The new fuel mix policy will come amid the growing RE sector in the country. New projects coming on stream are mostly wind and solar.

Solar Philippines, for instance, is planning to put up 200 megawatts of solar capacity this year in partnership with a local joint venture partner.

Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste said the company entered into a 50-50 partnership with a local company, which would be identified in a formal announcement this week.

With RE formally integrated into the fuel mix policy, Petilla hopes growth would continue. He is keeping a close watch on his goal to boost the country’s green energy resources.

For the past two years, Petilla has streamlined the process of RE project approvals accelerating the application process from 100 days down to nearly 45 days.

He also incorporated the first-come, firstserved policy for RE under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) system – an incentives system for RE projects, which prompted serious investors to accelerate their projects.

In January, the Energy department had endorsed 14 renewable energy projects to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), the power regulator, as eligible for FIT.

Apart from this, Petilla recently approved the additional allocation of 200 MW of wind projects from the current 200 MW to be eligible for FIT.