The Department of Energy (DOE) is amplifying its pitch for American companies to consider injecting capital into the country’s renewable energy (RE) sector as government schedules another contracting round this year.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi sounded this off during a Virtual Economic Briefing which had been intended to boost the economic relations between the Philippines and the United States.
The energy chief emphasized that one major opportunity the US investors could look forward to will be the scheduled green energy auction program (GEAP), of which 2,000 megawatts of RE capacity in power supply agreements (PSAs) under the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) will be offered to qualified investors.
Cusi said the country is promoting the RE market to developers “to accelerate the entry of renewables in our power industry and promote the competitive setting of rates for RE supply.”
He thus informed the American investors that “by the second quarter of this year, 2,000 megawatts will be offered in the auction.”
The RE capacity tendering process will cover project installations for solar, wind, hydro and biomass technologies within Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao power grids.
Beyond the emerging RE technologies, Cusi is similarly offering the geothermal sector to the US firms, as he emphasized the recent move of the DOE to open this component of the energy industry to 100 percent foreign ownership.
He said this government policy had been anchored on aims to “revitalize our geothermal energy sector by allowing for 100 percent foreign participation in large-scale geothermal projects under financial and technical assistance agreements.”
Another investment domain that the American firms can explore will be the trading of RE certificates that is currently being firmed up as added layer of transaction to be channeled through the country’s Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) because this will become part of the RPS compliance of the mandated participants, primarily the distribution utilities.
Several entities in the US government have been heavily dipping their hands into the policy-making terrain and regulation setting of the Philippine government, but when it comes to tangible investments, the American firms are not exactly regarded as aggressive players in the domestic energy market – that at one point, Cusi chided them that they have so far forgotten the Philippines.
Further, Cusi is courting American companies to infuse capital into energy efficiency (EE) ventures, with him noting that “we welcome innovative projects that could bring down our energy consumption and costs.”
To help accelerate investment flow in the EE sector, the energy chief conveyed that the DOE has recommended to the Board of Investments (BOI) that energy efficiency and conservation projects be accorded with pioneer incentives under the Strategic Investment Priority Plan.