The National Power Corp. (NPC) expects the timely completion of the review of the planned bidding for the Accelerated Hybridization Program (AHP) which is meant to fast-track the establishment of renewable energy (RE) sources in off-grid areas.
Fernando Martin Roxas, NPC president and chief executive officer, told reporters at the sidelines of the Solar and Storage Live Philippines 2024 event in Pasay City last week bidding is likely by end of the month or in June. “We will start with four clusters to be a test case structure. The ones we are bidding are Tawi Tawi, Batanes, Bicol and El Nido. That’s about four out of the 23 clusters of SPUG (Small Power Utilities Group) power plants. If this will be successful, we will (be) applying it to the rest of other power plants,” Roxas said.
AHP will allow private sector to put up RE generation plants or facilities to supplement, augment or replace the existing capacities in the operations of NPC’s SPUG diesel power plants mostly located in off-grid areas. Roxas said bidding will be under a 20-year contract wherein NPC will be the offtaker and will pay for the energy delivered to its switchyard, including losses.
“It is technologically agnostic, as long as it’s RE. We will pay them the SAGR (Subsidized Approved Generation Rate). If the SAGR goes up, we will pay 50 percent each. Meaning, if it increases by 50 centavos, bidders will pay 25 centavos and the other 25 centavos will be shouldered by NPC. However, if it goes down, we will not pay them below what they bid.They have an upside but no downside as the floor price is what they bid for,” Roxas said.
