THE Department of Energy (DOE) has assured lawmakers the third round of Green Energy Auction (GEA3) will be completed within the year.
“Our target for the Green Energy Auction 3 is to finish it before the end of the year such that the pumped storage hydro, (more than) 3,000 megawatts (MW), will be able to come in five years from now,” DOE undersecretary Rowena Guevara said during a budget hearing at the Senate on Wednesday.
GEA3 covers non-feed-in-tariff (FIT) eligible renewable energy (RE) technologies, particularly 380 MW for geothermal, 699 MW for impounding hydro and 3,120 MW for pumped-storage hydro.
The program will also cover 200 MW run-of-river hydro which is a FIT-eligible RE technology.
The target start of deliveries for impounding hydro and pumped storage hydro is 2028 to 2030, and 2024 to 2030 for geothermal. The run-of-river hydro projects under GEA3 must start operating in 2026 to 2028.
Under the setup of the GEA, interested RE producers compete for incentivized fixed power rates by offering prices that are lower than or equal to GEA reserve prices set by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
However, the government is yet to finalize the pricing mechanics for the GEA3.
