Total capacity of committed power plants for construction as of end-March this year is at 7,803.01 megawatts (MW), data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed.
The agency considers power plants as committed when they have achieved financial close, have conducted system impact study and have secured permits from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Energy Regulatory Commission.
For the period, no wind power projects are considered committed for construction from this year onwards, the data showed.
Bulk of the committed capacity are located in Luzon from planned coal-fired power plants with a total of 3,948.40 MW comprising more than 50 percent of the entire committed capacity.
The industry expects these coal projects to receive the final financing deals from banks which have expressed intentions to veer away from funding coal-fired power plants in the future especially with the DOE’s moratorium on the development of such projects.
On a nationwide basis, coal still has the highest share in committed projects at 4,488.40 MW followed by natural gas- fired power plants with 2,400 MW, solar with 310.35 MW, hydro with 232.80 MW, oil-based power plants with 183.25 MW, geothermal with 115.60 MW and biomass with 72.60 MW.
The DOE did not include battery energy storage systems in the total count but said that there are at least 2,050.13 MW of committed projects to utilize such technology.
Indicative power plants for the same period reached 35,923.30 MW
Indicative power projects are those being pursued by the private sector but are yet to receive a financial close.
Majority of indicative capacity for the period are located in Luzon coming from solar power plants with a total of 10,698.16 MW comprising almost 30 percent of the entire indicative capacity in the country
On a national basis, solar still has the highest share in indicative projects at 12,320.71 MW followed by wind at 10,294.80 MW, hydropower with 7,781.59 MW, natural gas with 3,060 MW, coal with 1,520 MW, oil-based with 635.20 MW, geothermal with 274 MW and biomass with 37 MW.
The DOE did not include BESS in the total count but said there are at least 1,337.35 MW of indicative projects to utilize such technology.
As of end-2021, the country had a total installed on-grid capacity of 26,882 MW alongside a 636.24 MW total installed off-grid power capacity. – Jed Macapagal
