The Energy Regulatory Commission denied the feed-in-tariff rate sought by Ocean Energy Resources, which plans to generate power from the ocean tide.
“Majority of ocean power projects awarded with service contracts by the Department of Energy uses Tidal In-stream Energy Conversion. The Commission, therefore, found it reasonable to use the said technology, instead of the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, as the representative project for the determination of the FIT rate for Ocean Technology…,” said ERC chairperson Agnes Devanadera.
The ERC said there is more information available on the tidal in-stream energy conversion technology, which can be the basis for the calculation of the initial FIT for Ocean Energy, instead of OTEC whose operations have not yet reached commercial scale.
The ERC earlier deferred the approval of the FIT for ocean technology in 2012 after the National Renewable Energy Board proposed OTEC as the representative project, although there was no OTEC plant in commercial operation yet at that time. Only a handful of pilot projects have been launched in the world.