posted April 27, 2016 at 11:35 pm by Alena Mae S. Flores
More than 200 megawatts of solar
capacity may not qualify for the second wave of solar feed-in tariff rate of
P8.69-per-kilowatt-hour, the Energy Department said Wednesday.
The Energy Department is completing
the evaluation of recently completed solar projects, with a combined capacity
of 800 megawatts, exceeding the government’s ceiling of 500 MW for projects
that could avail of the preferential rate.
Energy Secretary Zenaida Monsad said
the department would announce the final list of the solar projects that
qualified for the second wave of FiT rate for solar soon.
“We are sure that there will be
questions. That’s why we want to be transparent,” Monsada said.
She said 800 MW of solar power
capacity was being evaluated by the department, but only 500 MW would be given
the P8.63-per-kWh FiT rate.
Monsada said the department was presently
looking at the projects’ completion date. “We’re looking at when the 500
MW capacity was reached. It can be before March 15,” she said.
Monsada said the non-reliability of
the solar power plants were also grounds for disqualification from the FiT
availment.
“There are instances when the solar
plant is running for three days continuously and then it broke down on
the fourth day, so we had to revalidate,” Monsada said.
She said of the 500 MW solar
capacity available for FiT rate, power projects totaling 292 MW were found
eligible for the feed-in tariff.
The Philippine Solar Power Solar
Alliance earlier asked the department to exercise prudence in disqualifying
completed solar projects from the FiT availment.
PSPA president Tetchie Capellan said
the government should recognize the role of solar energy in adding capacity to
the national grid and for helping avert possible blackout.
“The alliance asks the DoE for
prudence in disqualifying completed solar projects. These companies
poured billions of pesos into solar projects and their possible
disqualification to the RE incentives not only denies the investors the
opportunity to recover their capital. More importantly, it kills the momentum
created by the DOE and erodes investors’ confidence,” Capellan said.
She said government should encourage
policy-makers in finding a common ground to recognize solar companies that
reached 80 percent electro-mechanical completion and delivered electricity to
the grid.”
“There is already an admission from
national authorities and utility distribution companies on the tightness of
supply. Undeniably, the contribution of 750-MW solar energy in the
daytime when demand is at its peak, cannot be ignored - the 750 MW solar
provided more security to the grid, averted a possible supply shortage as well
as delivered economic benefits to the consumers and the rural economy,” she
said.
“More importantly, solar power
plants today averts the power crisis. It also hedges the inevitable increase in
oil prices, and effectively reduce the consumers’ burden. The entry of solar
balances the environment impact of fossil-fuel-dependent power plants as well
as contributes to the national agenda of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,”
she said.
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