The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has released the preliminary pricing guidelines for non-feed-in tariff (FIT) technologies ahead of the upcoming Green Energy Auction (GEA-3), offering contracts totaling 4,399 megawatts (MW).
The auction will include impounding hydro, pumped-storage hydro, run-of-river (ROR) hydro, and geothermal technologies, with ROR hydro being the only technology eligible for FIT.
In a report by Philippine Star, the Commission would consider opinions from industry stakeholders on its draft price determination methodology (PDM).
The proposed PDM aims to analyze bids through a dual-phase evaluation system that prioritizes project development costs, net capacity factors, and the weighted average costs of capital.
The ERC has set a deadline of November 15 for stakeholders to submit their comments on the draft PDM, which will be considered in the finalization of pricing mechanisms for GEA-3.
Each bid must achieve a minimum score based on these components before undergoing a weighted scoring evaluation, where parameters are assigned specific weights according to their tariff impact.
Price offers that meet these criteria will be forwarded by the ERC to the Department of Energy (DOE) for the final selection of winning bidders. Successful bidders will need to operate their non-FIT-eligible renewable energy facilities within the approved parameters.
FIT is a policy providing guaranteed payments at a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour for certain emerging renewable energy sources.
Sen. Pia Cayetano has urged the ERC to expedite the finalization of these pricing mechanisms to facilitate the bidding process this year. Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara previously assured that GEA-3 would be completed by the year’s end.
