RE firms urged to join next green energy auction rounds

RENEWABLE ENERGY companies offered to deliver up to 1,966.93 megawatts (MW) of indigenous power during the government’s first round of auction of green energy, the Energy department said.

In a statement on Monday, the Department of Energy (DoE) said its green energy auction held on June 17 had a success rate of 98.3465%, with the companies committing to deliver renewable energy from 2023 to 2025 at a price that is lower than or equal to the prices set by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The DoE said that since the auction will be conducted on a yearly basis, RE developers that failed to win in the first round bid, and those that were not able to submit offers may participate in subsequent auction rounds.

The initiative is under the DoE’s Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) in which mandated participants of the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) are assisted in procuring their energy requirements through a competitive process.

RPS requires electricity sellers to supply a minimum percentage of customer demand with eligible sources of renewable energy (RE). GEAP selects the RE facilities that offer the most competitive prices of electricity.

The competitive process will result in a so-called “green energy tariff” that becomes the benchmark price of RE to reflect the current value of electricity.

Based on the DoE’s auction results, a total of 1,511.18 MW of renewables are to be delivered in Luzon, while 313.2 MW are set for the Visayas and 142.55 MW for Mindanao.

The department said that marginal offers that will exceed the threshold capacities, per technology, per grid, were given up to 20% of their offered capacities as stated in the terms of reference for GEAP.

“Otherwise, the bidder may either opt to reduce its offered capacity without modifying its bid price or withdraw from the auction without forfeiting its [bid bond],” it said.

These winning bids were ranked based on offers from the lowest to the highest bid price and stacked corresponding to the respective RE technology per grid. The auction was conducted through an electronic bidding program.