7 REs certified for FIT availments

Manila Bulletin 
By Myrna M. Velasco 
Published: July 1, 2013 
At least seven renewable energy projects across various technologies have now been issued with certificate of commerciality (COCs) and lined up by the Department of Energy (DOE) for availment of feed-in-tariffs.
Based on documents from the energy department, the total installations placed under the FIT system already hovered at 316.5 megawatts – roughly half the approved ceiling of 750MW that shall be set for commissioning within the 2015 timeframe.
It is now apparent that the approved FIT-qualified installations for wind technology have been oversubscribed, with total capacity of the projects now reaching 258.5MW. The approved capacity cap for wind is at 200MW.
The wind projects bestowed with commerciality declaration include the 87-MW facility of Energy Development Corporation; 67.5-MW Pilillia project of Alternegy Wind One Corporation; 50MW Nabas-Buruanga project of PetroGreen Energy Corporation; and 54-MW proposed San Lorenzo wind facility of Trans-Asia Renewable Energy Corporation.
The ‘oversubscription’ in megawatt capacities is making the race for the wind power projects’  commissioning more exciting – with two of the project sponsors declaring  late 2014 as their commercial operations target.
For solar, there is only one project certified for FIT availment to date. It is the 30-MW solar farm facility in Leyte proposed by a local developer.
On the other, two hydro projects have been accommodated into the FIT system at this point. These are the 18MW Timbaban hydroelectric power project in Aklan; and the 10-MW Culaman hydro project in Bukidnon which were both proposed by Oriental Energy and Power Generation Corporation.
There are biomass projects which also applied for FIT availments, but there was no one granted with COC yet, as culled from the latest roll of the DOE.
The COC-underpinned project developments are still marginal compared to the installed capacity target of 2,334.54MW for RE awarded service contracts.
Of the total 339 RE projects awarded by the energy department, the estimated potential capacity could reach as high as 5,724MW.
Roughly 250 projects are still pending for the department’s approval and these could yield potential capacity of 3,073 megawatts.
DOE director Mario Marasigan earlier told reporters that they will be “cleaning up” the RE projects’ application list within the year – with some proposals possibly getting dumped.   source