DOE issues guidelines on identifying ‘nationally significant’ energy projects

By Alena Mae S. Flores – April 5, 2024, 8:20 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Department of Energy issued an order prescribing the guidelines for the issuance of certificate of energy projects of national significance (CEPNS).

Department Order DC 2024-04-0003 identifies energy projects that are automatically qualified for CEPNS, subject to the submission of the application.

Renewable energy generation projects that are eligible under the feed-in tariff (FIT) system, those that were declared as winning bids in the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP), those selected pursuant to other policies and programs of the DOE or those that support the energy transition goals, as provided in the Philippine Energy Plan, are automatically qualified.

The order also reiterated the previous CEPNS paramaters where an energy project can be certified if it has significant capital investment of at least P3.5 billion.

The order said CEPNS should be issued to energy projects that are found to have significant impact on the country’s energy sufficiency, security, reliability and stability, economic development, technological progress and environmental protection.

It said CEPNS should facilitate and fast-track the issuance of permits and clearances as requirements from the different concerned government agencies and instrumentalities for energy project.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order 30 in 2017 creating the Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC) to streamline the regulatory procedures affecting energy projects of national importance.