Award of more renewable deals set for this month

Manila Times.net

By James Konstantin Galvez, Reporter

THE Department of Energy said it would award another batch of renewable energy contracts this month.

Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug said they expect to award 40 to 80 renewable energy contracts, on top of the earlier installation targets set by the department.

“Most are for hydropower. A few wind, some solar but majority is hydro,” Layug said.

The official said the service contract holders will have to undertake a two-year predevelopment study to determine whether the areas covered are viable.

“They still need to determine if the areas have strong and consistent winds, if the illumination of the sun is okay. So it is not yet included in the installation targets,” Layug said.

To date, 227 renewable energy service contracts are covered by the installation targets set by the government, he said.

Earlier, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said they expect the share of renewables in the country’s energy mix to increase by threefold to about 15,400 megawatts by 2030 from 5,400 MW last year.

He said the country is already at 57.5 percent self-sufficiency in 2010, with renewables accounting for 27.21 percent.

Layug said the National Renewable Energy Board on May 16 submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission the petition on the feed-in-tariff.
He said the ERC has 90 days to conduct public consultations all over the country.

The FIT is the electricity charged to every renewable energy source and guarantees payment to developers.