The National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) said some renewable power projects that did not meet the feed-in-tariff (FIT) deadline may be given another shot to enjoy incentives through the Green Energy Pricing Program (GEPP).
In a virtual briefing hosted by the Renewable Energy Transition Institute over the weekend, NREB chairman Mona Dimalanta said up to 380 megawatts (MW) of solar energy assets and up to 100 MW of biomass power have been stranded.
Stranded RE projects are those developed to have a business model that are reliant on the FIT but are not operational due to the lack of incentives.
Under the GEPP which will take effect next year, a special incentive rate for RE projects will be introduced and auctioned off based on power plants’ ability to run power either as peaking or mid-merit capacity.
A ceiling rate will be implemented but players will have to compete and offer the lowest rate in order to secure the incentive but developers will not be given a deadline to fill up the entire allocated capacity.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said an initial 2,000 MW is being planned under GEPP but Dimalanta said they are now reviewing the final target capacity for the first auction since demand for electricity has been tempered by the ongoing effects of the pandemic.
In the same briefing, DOE’s Renewable Energy Management Bureau director Mylene Capongcol, assured interest for RE power development remains strong even if demand for electricity has decreased as activities were curtailed due to quarantine measures.
“We see no change as far as RE developers are in terms of being interested amid the pandemic… As far as number of service contracts are concerned, we see no change,” she explained.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis said the Philippines could attract $20 billion of renewable energy investment over the next decade if the GEPP is pursued.
