DOE to award 40-80 renewable energy contracts this June

Forty to 80 renewable energy (RE) contracts are set to be awarded by the Department of Energy (DOE) within the month, a DOE official said on Thursday. Most of the contracts to be awarded are mini-hydro power plant projects, said Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug. "I don't have the specifics, but most are for hydropower again. A few wind, some solar but majority is hydro," Layug said. But before these awardees can go into full implementation, they would have to first undergo pre-development studies for two years, Layug added. "They need to determine if the areas covered have strong and consistent winds or they need to determine if the illumination of the sun is okay," he explained. According to DOE's list of RE contracts, there are 124 hydropower projects currently awarded of which 99 are in pre-development stages and eight are already in the development phase. There are currently 17 hydropower projects operating in the country. DOE data also showed that hydropower projects have a potential capacity of 281.97 megawatts (MW). Under the Power Development Program (PDP), the Philippines would require additional RE development projects to help meet additional power capacity in the long-term. For 2010 to 2030, the Luzon grid would need some 11,900 MW of additional power, where 600 MW is committed and 3,448 MW is indicative. The Visayas grid, meanwhile, would require an additional 2,150 MW of capacity, while Mindanao would need some 2,500 MW of new capacity. Layug pointed out, however, that the new contracts to be awarded this month are not included in the installation targets this year. "For the installation targets, these are for the existing 227 service contract holders," he explained. "In essence, these 40 to 80 are still on the exploration phase where they have to do a pre-development study for two years from the time we award it," he added. —JMT, GMA News