DOE prepares for green energy auction in June

The Department of Energy said Friday it will push through with the Green Energy Auction program in June for an initial 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy capacity.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the auction would be held by mid-June, and the DOE was prepared to increase the capacity up for auction.

“But rather than saying how much we're going to increase it, let’s see first the output of the auction,” Cui said.

The green energy auction refers to the competitive process for the procurement of RE supply.

Cusi said the DOE was looking at other options to increase renewable energy use such as the renewable energy portfolio standard.

RPS is a policy mechanism that requires electric power industry participants such as generators, distribution utilities and suppliers to source or produce a specified fraction of their electricity from eligible RE resources.

It is set at one percent of electricity sales allocation for distribution utilities connected to the grid.

The National Renewable Energy Board proposed increasing the one percent RPS target to two percent annually but this is still being studied by DOE.

Cusi said DOE was also processing around 8,500 MW of competitive selection process for solar, wind, and battery energy storage system.

“That is not included in the auction, even not included in one percent of RPS,” he said.

The department expects clean energy to capture more than 66 percent of the total power generation mix by 2040 under a low-carbon scenario.

Cusi said last month the low-carbon scenario would involve the transformation of the energy sector when enhanced policies and decisive measures were further introduced.

“This also translates into a power generation mix that shifts from being coal–centered to one where RE, natural gas, and other emerging clean energy technologies will have increased shares. The combined clean energy sources will improve to reach more than 66 percent of the total generation by 2040,” Cusi said.

The Philippines has 70.8-percent fossil-based capacity and 29.2-percent renewable energy-based capacity.

Cusi said that as of June 2020, the Philippines had 25,713 megawatts of installed capacity from all existing and operating power generation facilities.

“To further support a low-carbon future, we are currently prioritizing the issuance of our National Renewable Energy Program 2020-2040 to achieve the envisioned target of around 34,000 MW of renewable energy installations by 2040,” Cusi said.

Cusi said 44,761 MW of additional RE capacity were needed to achieve the levels set in the clean energy scenario.

“Under the clean energy or low carbon scenario, there will be a slower growth of the total primary energy supply, as a result of our energy efficiency and conservation measures. Coal and oil shares will also continue to decrease due to the use of alternative fuels for transport, among others,” he said.

Cusi said the department was fully committed to faithfully implement Republic Act 9513 or the Renewable Energy Law of 2008.

He ordered a periodic review of the law “to see where we are in terms of implementation and find stronger ways to promote our indigenous renewable energy sources.”