22fun ERC defers issuance of bid price for run-of-river hydro

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Chairperson and CEO Monalisa C. Dimalanta | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of ERC / Energy Regulatory Commission

The release of the bid price for run-of-river hydropower, a renewable energy technology to which related concessions will be up for auction in 2025, has been “deferred for further consideration,” according to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

This was based on a document dated Dec. 17, 2024, and posted on the ERC’s website, related to the third round of the government’s Green Energy Auction Program.

Article continues after this advertisement

The regulator said a decision was put off “given the pending issues that need to be resolved.”

FEATURED STORIES BUSINESS BIZ BUZZ: Coming soon: ‘Kiss and cry’ area at Naia BUSINESS Malaysian FMCG products surge in popularity in the Philippines BUSINESS DA wants to remove brand label of imported rice 

READ: Coming soon: ERC chief Dimalanta assures public of Meralco rate reset

Sought for more details, ERC chair and chief executive officer Monalisa Dimalanta said the Commission was “clarifying a policy matter with the DOE (Department of Energy).”

Article continues after this advertisement

Dimalanta said such a matter was related to the supposed “parallel implementation” of the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) and Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) for run-of-river hydro.

Article continues after this advertisement

FIT is another initiative meant to provide fixed rates to emerging clean power sources, including hydro. GEAP, meanwhile, is designed to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

Preliminary data from the agency showed the consumer price index slowed to 1.9 percent year on year in September, easing from 3.3 percent in August and 6.1 percent in 2023.

Article continues after this advertisement

Run-of-river refers (ROR) to hydropower generation facilities that use the natural flow of water from a river through a channel to spin a turbine.

ROR systems are usually smaller than hydropower plants that use a dam to store water in a reservoir, from which the water is released through a turbine.

Article continues after this advertisement

“We noted that there is still unsubscribed capacity for FIT for this technology, yet there is additional capacity allocated for GEAP,” she said Friday.

“This may confuse stakeholders and may render one policy to conflict with the other. We are asking for DOE’s on the way forward considering we are also reviewing the FIT rate for ROR hydro,” Dimalanta added.

Mylene Capongcol, director of the Renewable Energy Management Bureau of the DOE, said the third round of the GEAP may be delayed to January 2025.

The DOE’s initial target was to complete GEA Round 3 within this year.

This, as the ERC has yet to release its price determination methodology for the GEA reserve price or the maximum price offer set in the bidding, is one of the items required to pursue the program.

The new round of clean power bidding will focus on geothermal, impounding hydro and pumped-storage hydro, and ROR hydro.

Meanwhile, Capongcol also said the DOE may release this December the notice of auction and terms of reference for the GEA-4, which would cover integrated renewable energy and energy storage systems (IRESS).

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

SIGN ME UP

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy.

The DOE earlier said IRESS is “the integration of renewable energy sources with energy storage technologies like batteries22fun, flywheels, or pumped storage hydropower systems.”

READ NEXT Richard Parsons, executive who led Time Warner and Citigroup, ... PSEi closes flat but green post-Christmas EDITORS' PICK Chavit Singson helps single mom with kid’s college fees in charity show Mary Jane Veloso now at Correctional’s regular dormitory – BuCor Floodings kill 1, distress over 60,000 families nationwide – OCD MMFF 2024 Gabi ng Parangal: Everything you need to know, expect Farmers’ woes seen to persist despite extended aid Gov’t working for return of 13 Filipino surrogate mothers from Cambodia MOST READ Barbers: Filipinos must unite vs China’s ‘meddling’ in PH-US deal MMFF 2024 Gabi ng Parangal: Everything you need to know, expect ‘Surprise of 2024’: Escoda Shoal in West PH Sea is new flashpoint COA: BSP spent P5.95B for new peso banknotes Follow @FMangosingINQ on Twitter --> View comments