ACEN exec: GEAP results a wakeup call for industry

By Lenie Lectura – August 29, 2023
from Business Mirror

The low turnout in the second round of Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) should serve as a wakeup call for industry players to double their efforts to help the government achieve a 35-percent renewable energy (RE) share in the power generation mix.

“It auction was a wakeup call for the industry. It was undersubscribed, but to me it’s really a wakeup call for the industry to step up to the plate and fill that gap,” said ACEN Corp. President Eric Francia.

In July, the Department of Energy (DOE) received commitments for only 3,580.76 megawatts (MW) out of the 11,600 MW offered under the GEAP2. It has yet to announce if it will rebid the remaining 8,019.24MW of unsubscribed RE projects for 2024 to 2026.

“As a country, as we all know, we’re targeting a 35-percent renewables share of output. We’re now at 22 percent. By our estimation, if we are to reach 35 percent by 2030, and 50 percent by 2040, on top of the 5 to 6 percent annual demand growth, we would need to build around 18,000 MW or 18 gigawatts (GW) of renewables between today and 2030,” Francia said.

The first round of GEA was conducted in June last year. It generated almost 2,000MW of capacities that were committed to deliver energy from 2023 to 2025.

After GEA-2, the DOE will conduct GEA3 in the fourth quarter for geothermal and impounding hydro. The DOE will develop a specific auction policy and guidelines for GEA4.

The DOE plans to conduct the GEA annually to encourage more RE investments in the country.

“The good news is out of the 18GW, around 5 GW has already been awarded through the first two rounds of the green energy auction. So, we need to go for 13 GW more,” added Francia.

DOE Secretary Raphael Lotilla said his office is aware that the markets have spoken when it comes to the terms of the attractability of the options based on the maximum price that was approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The DOE said it will hold discussions with the industry players “to address earlier concerns raised on transmission connection and permits processing among others, to ensure that the project capacities offered are delivered according to more realistic timelines and within competitive power rates.”