The Department of Energy (DOE) has cornered at least 13 offers for renewable energy (RE) projects across hydro, geothermal and wind energy technologies that had been auctioned via the 4th Open and Competitive Selection Process (OCSP4) carried out by the agency.

The energy department conveyed that the tendering process covered at least 20 pre-determined areas (PDAs), but only 13 had received tenders during the opening of bids on September 28 this year.

“PDAs where no bid was received may be declared open for direct application pursuant to the existing guidelines,” the DOE emphasized.

For hydro projects, the offers covered at least eight sites comprising of the proposed Tinoc 4, Alilem, Main Aklan, Basak II, Sawaga, Carac-an, Catuiran (Upper Cascade) and Langaran hydroelectric power facilities.

Of the bids, at least three had been rendered “incomplete” – primarily the submission of Regenerative Sustainable Projects Inc. for the Basak II venture; the Paragon Green Energy Development Corp. for the propounded Carac-an hydro plant; then the submitted tender of King Energy Generation Inc. for the Langaran hydropower project.

On geothermal, ‘complete offers’ had been received from Energy Development Corporation for two sites in Buguias-Tinoc and Mt Sembrano projects.

The three wind-offered sites covering the San Jose, Pantabangan and Bagac targeted installations cornered multiple offers, according to the energy department.

The companies which signified interest include Mainstream Renewable Power Philippines, PacificWind Renewables Corp., First Gen Visayas Energy Inc., wpd Philippines Onshore Inc., GigaWind2 Inc., L More 44 Construction OPC, South Luzon Sustainable Energy Inc., Freya Renewables Inc. and South Luzon Energy Solutions Inc.

For the wind technology tenders, at least six submissions had been rated by the DOE as ‘incomplete’ during the bid opening process.

In a statement to the media, the DOE indicated that the OCSP4 Review and Evaluation Committee (REC) led by Assistant Secretary Mylene C. Capongcol as its chairperson, is “reviewing the motion for reconsideration from four bidders, of which two (2) are bidders for hydro and another two (2) for wind PDAs.”

The completion of the post-bid evaluation on the legal, technical and financial bids of the investors shall be by October 12 this year; while the awarding of the RE contracts is slated by November 24.

It was further prescribed that “all RE developers whose applications were accepted are required to settle the processing fees within three (3) days from receipt of the order of payment.”