The National Renewable Energy Board said Wednesday it endorsed the installation of more solar and wind projects to accommodate the rising private sector interest in renewable energy.
NREB chairman Pete Maniego said the board submitted to the Energy Department an additional 500-megawatt installation target for wind and another 500 MW for solar power projects.
“Our recommendation are really to DoE (Energy Department) and next installation target for wind and solar although they have not approved it. But it’s roughly 500 MW for wind and 500 MW for solar,” Maniego told reporters at the sidelines of Asia Clean Energy Forum 2016.
Maniego said NREB also proposed a feed-tariff rate of between P7 and P8 per kilowatt-hour for solar and P6 and P7 per kWh for wind under the third wave of installation targets.
Feed-in-tariff is provided by the government as incentives to renewable energy developers under the Renewable Energy Law of 2008.
“As far as the FIT rate, I don’t want to pre-empt ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission), but we have also submitted it, but that will be depend on the installation target to be approved by DoE,” he said.
Maniego said new solar and wind projects should be located in Luzon and Mindanao where the grid could still absorb additional capacity.
“It’s a matter of balancing…They [DoE] should look at the geography. We have a resolution that the installation target, not only total but also geographical, should be based on demand [and] transmission-constraint areas,” Maniego said.
He said NREB wanted to avoid a repeat of the Negros transmission line constraint issue for solar power projects.
Maniego said the agency also recommended to the department a transition period until 2018 before moving to the auction for the next round of installation targets.
“Our recommendation is to have a transition period…We cannot just implement auction. There has to be a comprehensive study to look at whether it will be applicable to the Philippines [and] what mechanism will be adopted,” he said.
The entire 400-MW capacity for the wind installation target has already been fully taken up.
ERC approved a feed-in tariff rate of P8.53 per kWh for the first wave of wind installation targets of 200 MW and P7.40 per kWh under the second wave covering another 200 MW.
The department previously approved a 50-MW installation for solar projects under the first round of installation targets at a feed-in tariff rate of P9.68 per kilowatt-hour. The department, however, has yet to release the final list of those who qualified for the 450-MW second wave of solar installation targets.