The Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will move the Green Energy Auction (GEA)-3 to next year.
During the 2024 Energy Investment Forum on Thursday, Dec. 5, Energy Undersecretary Felix Fuentabella said that GEA-3, which covers non-feed-in-tariff (FIT) projects for geothermal, impounding hydro, and pumped-storage hydropower, is rescheduled for January 2025.
“The Green Energy Auction program, GEA-3, was initially planned for the end of the year. However, it is now scheduled for January of next year,” he said.
While the DOE previously aimed to finish the auction by the end of this year, the reasons for the date adjustments were not disclosed.
This announcement follows a budget hearing last October, where DOE Undersecretary Rowena Guevara stated that GEA-3 would support the integration of more renewable energy (RE) sources into the country’s energy mix within the next five years.
Meanwhile, Energy Assistant Secretary Mylene Capongcol assured that despite the auction being pushed back a month, there are many interested bidders, including San Miguel Corp.
“We’ll also release the notice of auction (NOA) and the terms of reference (TOR) for GEA-4 hopefully this December,” she added.
The fourth GEA would cover the Integrated Renewable Energy and Energy Storage System (IRESS). This involves renewable energy (RE) sources that include energy storage technologies such as batteries or pumped storage hydropower, which would secure a sufficient and efficient power supply.