As validation process already kicked
off for the next 450 megawatts of solar installation target, the Department of
Energy (DOE) is giving bold prediction that this may not be met on the
prescribed cut-off date of March 15 this year.
“We cannot attain full subscription,
we just cannot commit because things may happen that may cause delays in
project completion by March 15,” DOE acting undersecretary and Renewable Energy
Management Bureau (REMB) head Mario Marasigan has noted.
Asked on how the project validation
process has been moving, he averred “I can only describe it as challenging.”
At this stage, he emphasized that
“most projects are at 80-percent completion and I cannot discount possibilities
of project non-completion by March 15, 2016.”
This year’s March 15 cut-off period
is relevant because that will be the reckoning date as to which new solar wind
farms can qualify for the second wave of solar feed-in-tariff (FIT) incentives.
As previously approved by the Energy
Regulatory Commission, the FIT rate for the next qualified solar installations
will be P8.69 per kilowatt-hour.
The energy department has jacked up
the FIT-covered installations to 500MW from just 50MW initially.
The first batch had been
oversubscribed, hence, that prompted DOE to consider the higher installation
target – on account also of the approved lower FIT rate and the collapsing
prices of solar technology in the world market.
As the race winds up though,
Marasigan is indicating that the remaining stretch has been emerging as ‘tough
wall’ for many players.
The energy official refused to give
hints yet on which projects will finally make it to the finish line and be part
of the next round of FIT incentives.
It has to be recalled that in the
current filing of the National Transmission Corporation for FIT Allowance
(FIT-All) with the industry regulator, the expected additional installations
have already been factored in.
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