Published December 7, 2019, 10:00 PM
By Myrna M.
Velasco
The Department of Energy (DOE) is
crafting a formula that will establish the “green energy pricing” for renewable
energy (RE) based on reference costs from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market
(WESM).
The energy department said the
“green energy pricing” will serve as a benchmark pricing that the developers of
RE projects could leverage on if they will join the government-administered
auction for RE capacity that shall be in line with the Renewable Portfolio
Standards (RPS) policy.
As prescribed, the green energy
price shall be derived based on “initial market values for peak and off-peak
baseload power supply on a quarterly basis.”
In Luzon and Visayas grids wherein
the WESM is already on commercial operations, the benchmark for the green
energy price shall be the average of monthly load weighted average prices
(LWAPs) in the spot market – and such shall correspond to the baseload and
mid-merit/peaking hours.
As proposed, the figures shall be
reckoned in the last five (5) years of the WESM operations or at least 60
billing periods prior to the date of the RE capacity auction.
For Mindanao grid that has no
operational spot market yet, the propounded green energy price shall be based
on “forecast cost recovery rate (in peso per kilowatt-hour) in the most recent
feed-in-tariff allowance (FIT-Allowance)” petition as filed by fund
administrator National Transmission Corporation.
The draft rules on green energy
pricing further indicated that the cost reference shall be set on peso per
megawatt-hour (PhP/MWh) basis “to reflect the value of actual energy generated
by the qualified RE project and to be consistent with the compliance
requirements of the RPS on-grid rules.”
It has also been proposed that “the
initial market values shall be published by the DOE on its website and updated
on a regular basis, not later than 30 calendar days prior to each auction.”
Essentially, the department
stressed, these shall serve “as pricing indicators for RE developers and
customers contracting under the Green Energy Option Program.”
The auction of the initial 2,000
megawatts of RE capacity that may be covered by the “green energy pricing”
policy is targeted until early part of next year.
As previously raised, the potential
candidates in the first batch would be the “stranded solar capacity” –
primarily those sited in Negros; then the biomass developments not covered in
the extended FIT incentive system; and the projects that had already been
accorded with certificates of commerciality by the DOE or those that are ready
to move into construction phases.
No comments:
Post a Comment