DOE evaluating 10 potential ‘Projects of Nat’l Significance’

The Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating 10 renewable energy projects as potential ‘Projects of National Significance’ under Executive Order (EO) 30, officials said.

“We are still at the evaluation stage for 10 projects. These are mostly generation projects, but we are not excluding any entity because there are transmission projects and even resource development,” DOE Undersecretary Jesus Posadas said.

“These are more on RE generation projects because these are the projects usually facing issues in permitting like NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) and NWRB (National Water Resources Board),” Posadas said.

EO 30 provides that government agencies concerned with energy projects should presume other agencies were able to act upon and issue their respective permits within a 30-day period.

The order also creates the Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC), led by the DOE, which will spearhead and coordinate national government efforts to harmonize, integrate and streamline regulatory processes, requirements and forms relevant to the development of energy investments in the country.

One of the projects assessed under EO 30 is a geothermal facility, DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

“There is a ready company, I just want to make sure that there is no issue. It’s a geothermal project in the north, somewhere in Ifugao. It’s just under evaluation,” he said.

Another project to be included in the list is the P52-billion Visayas-Mindanao Interconnection Project (VMIP), DOE assistant secretary Redentor Delola said. “It is among those being evaluated,” he said.

In July 2017, the Energy Regulatory Commission gave the gosignal to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines to proceed with the construction of the interconnection project via Cebu and Zamboanga.