DOE evaluates proposals for 50 renewable energy projects

MANILA, Philippines – More than 50 renewable energy (RE) projects are currently being evaluated by the Department of Energy (DOE) to potentially add to the country’s power needs.

DOE assistant secretary Mario Marasigan told reporters over the weekend that they are processing over 50 contracts of various renewable energy types. “So we have hydro, biomass, and geothermal frontier areas. Most of the projects are hydros,” he said.

Marasigan, however, admitted they have been faced with more complex RE applications which would require thorough evaluation.

“We have pending applications in the docket. But our problem is we lack time to really do everything. Plus now, the applications are becoming complex or difficult. We are done with the simpler projects so lately, the project applications we have received are the difficult ones. And there are cases where we even have to go to field to validate these projects. There are names of the projects that we haven’t heard before. For instance, we have hydro applications which we practically have no idea before,” he said.

He said the areas being applied for by the new RE players are located in “rare frontier areas”.

“We have to validate the sites. And also some biomass projects that are cropping up. Before they are doing it already, it seems that some projects are being taken for granted, but now they see the benefits of registering projects at the DOE,” he said.

“The difficulty we are also encountering are the areas that are inaccessible, but there are very good projects.”

Since most of the applicants are new entrants, they also have to validate their identities, Marasigan added.

“We are also validating the names. Based on my observations, even the previous or existing companies for better management of projects create subsidiaries and new corporations. But these are really new entities if you look at it, but they’re probably old companies,” he said.

The DOE, he said, must be assured that these firms are not “fly-by-night” companies.

“We’re also validating if these are also foreign companies. There are times we couldn’t validate the configurations of the companies where initially they are composed of Filipinos and then we find out later on that there are foreign partners. And in fact, we have also received lots of request for endorsement for SEC registration. There are cases where some proponents don’t pass in the legal qualifications since they are not engaged in renewable energy, so they have to redo their articles of incorporation. Thus, our application processing now takes a longer time,” he said.

The passage of the Renewable Energy Act has spurred appetite for RE projects in the Philippines.

The National Renewable Energy Board, created by the RE Act, is coming up with its proposal for the feed in tariff (FIT) rules to the Energy Regulatory Commission. The tariff incentive is expected to be implemented within the year.  –Donnabelle L. Gatdula (The Philippine Star)