Renewable energy company Citicore Power Inc. filed a case before the regional trial courts of Taguig and Quezon City to compel the Energy Department to disclose the parameters on solar feed-in tariff eligibility endorsement.
Citicore, controlled by Megawide Construction Corp., said it elevated the case to the trial courts and filed for a “mandamus,” after repeatedly requesting the department to explain the basis for the grant of endorsement to solar companies under the second round of installation targets.
“In the spirit of transparency and pursuant to the enforcement of the right to information on matters of public concern, we have sought the assistance of the court to compel DOE to disclose the standards used to determine FIT eligibility of RE developers on the list and reasons for failure of others to qualify,” Citicore vice-president Manolo Candelaria said.
The court orders were delivered to the department last week, directing the agency to file comment on the petitions within 10 days from receipt. The hearings were set on Sept. 22.
Citicore Power owns an 18-MW solar power project in the Freeport Area of Bataan in Barangay Alasasin, Mariveles.
The power plant spans 37 hectares and was undertaken by project company Next Generation Power Technology Corp.
It also owns a 250-MW solar facility in Silay, Negros Occidental which spans 43 hectares and includes over 96,000 photovoltaic modules. The Silay facility powers 30,000 homes connected to the Visayas grid.
Citicore Power said the two projects were completed ahead of the March 15 deadline set by the department but was not among the projects endorsed for feed-in tariff eligibility to Energy Regulatory Commission.
The department said it was evaluating and assessing the Citicore case.
Citicore earlier asked Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to review the list of solar projects granted endorsement for the second round of feed-in tariff allocation under the previous administration.
“Our documents, including certifications and permits, as well as the records of hourly dispatch of solar power plants from the market operator’s website [accessible to the public], will clearly show that we commissioned and dispatched before the deadline, well ahead of other participants that have been approved to get the subsidy,” Candelaria said earlier.