Higher reserve price sought for floating solar

Proponents of floating solar farm installations, which are members of the Philippine Solar and Storage Energy Alliance (PSSEA), are seeking approval for a higher green energy auction reserve (GEAR) price of at least P7.30 per kilowatthour. The higher reserve price is targeting the tendering process this June 19 where floating solar may be included in the auction by the Department of Energy (DOE). According to PSSEA Chairperson Tetchi Cruz-Capellan, they have asked for at least P7.30 per kilowatt hour (kWh) GEAR price for floating solar, which is higher by more than P2.50 per kWh compared to the initially-set GEAR price of P4.7565 per kWh for the technology under the second round of the Green Energy Auction (GEA-2) which is slated next month. In a position paper submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), PSSEA formally batted for P7.3661 per kWh as GEA-2 GEAR prices for solar PV (photovoltaic) on water. Further, the group is praying for “the removal of solar energy service contract (SESC) as one of the requisites for the solar developers.” The GEAR price is being set by the ERC, while the auction process for RE capacities under GEA is carried out by the energy department. On the sphere of tariff-setting under GEAR, the group justified that “unlike in ground-mounted solar panels, solar PV on water incurs additional costs in construction and operations, including but not limited to, installation of floaters, anchoring and mooring of the system.” The group added that “compared to ground-mounted solar, the solar PV on water incurs at least 20-percent higher project cost.” It was similarly stipulated that “another important factor that must be considered in calculating the costs for solar PV on water is the logistics of bulky floats which necessarily need barges and other water transportation en route to the plant site.” PSSEA qualified that on previous comment it submitted to the ERC April 8 last year, it was originally praying for P8.86 per kWh GEAR price – based on the computations and assumptions that the industry players had come up with. It expounded that on the genre of floating solar technologies – there are at least three types that project sponsor-firms have been leaning on when it comes to their planned installations – and these are HDPE-mounted floating solar PV on water or the technology made of floaters using high density polyethylene (HDPE); then there is the membrane-mounted solar; and the other one is the solar on stilts or the solar PV panels mounted on concrete piles. “The aforementioned types of solar PV on water and its technology features served as bases for collection of data and calculations in reaching the assumptions for the proposed GEAR price for solar PV on water,” PSSEA stressed. On the removal of SESC as a requirement for GEA participation, the group emphasized that “under the current rules, only solar developers with SESC or solar energy operating contract can register to participate in GEAP,” adding that the “DOE has already suspended the issuance of service contract and rather issues operating contract to the solar developers.” Taking cue from that precept then, PSSEA opined that “requiring SEOC for the solar developers as a pre-requisite to register as bidders in GEAP, should be reviewed by the Commission,” adding that “the core of the SEOC is possessory rights to the project locations.”