DOE inks add'l hydropower contracts

By Donnabelle L. Gatdula (The Philippine Star) Updated December 20, 2011 12:00 AM


MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) has approved an additional 1,000 megawatts (MW) of hydropower contracts, indicating its keen interest to continue to promote renewable energy (RE) resources, the country’s top energy official said.


“Over the past few months, we continue to release and sign contracts in areas where it really works,” Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said.


According to Almendras, the signing of more RE contracts particularly in hydropower projects, showed that the government, despite challenges, remains keen on developing RE.


He said they expect to sign more contracts amid controversies related to the tariff issues.


“Now, renewable energy is still a controversy of sorts, (but) I’ m not in control of the feed-in tariff. As much as I want to, there is an appropriate institution and process for that,” he said.


Based on the RE contracts, there are 124 hydropower projects of which 99 are in the pre-development stages and eight are already in development stages. There are already 17 existing hydropower projects in the country.


The DOE data showed that there would be a potential capacity of 281.97 MW of hydropower projects.


Under the Power Development Program, the country would need additional RE development projects to help meet the additional power capacity in the long-term.


For 2010-2030, the Luzon grid would need some 11,900 MW of additional power, of which only 600 MW is committed and 3,448 MW is indicative.


In the 20-year period under the PDP, some 2,150 MW in new capacity is needed for the Visayas grid. Of this, 654 MW is already committed and 186 MW is indicative.


For Mindanao, the island would need some 2,500 MW in additional capacity for the period 2010-2030, of which only 100 MW has been committed and 581 MW in indicative projects.