(The Philippine Star) | Updated October 1, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines -
There would be no need for feed-in tariff (FIT) incentives for solar when
prices of solar panels have gone down and the country would need to import more
gas by 2022, making it competitive with other sources of power, the Philippine
Solar Power Alliance (PSPA) said.
PSPA president Maria
Theresa Capellan said solar players would need two more rounds under FIT until
the technology becomes competitive by 2022 when the cost of solar panels would
have gone down.
FIT is a set of
incentives given to power developers for a period of 20 years to invest in the
more expensive renewables sector.
“We project that solar
plants would cost $1 million per megawatt (MW) by 2022 and it will be lower by
2030,” Capellan said.
The cost of solar
plants have already decreased from $1.6 million per megawatt in 2014 to $1.23
million in 2016, the PSPA official said.
By 2022, Capellan said
the contract of the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project is expected to
expire, requiring the Philippines to import much expensive gas from other
countries.
“If we import gas, the rate from gas-fired
power plants, which are peaking plants, will increase. So this will translate
to higher electricity rates, and solar will be competitive because we can sell
at P5 per kilowatt-hour (kwh),” Capellan said.
The current FIT rate
for solar is equivalent to P8.69 per kwh. In the first round, FIT for solar was
P9.68 per kwh.
But before moving on to
the third round of FIT for solar, government must first address the
oversubscription in the previous round, Capellan said.
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