THE Department of Energy (DOE) announced the conduct of a second green energy auction in the next few months to further boost the country’s renewable energy (RE) sector.
“To provide a robust and additional market for RE through a transparent and competitive bidding, the DOE is conducting the second round of the “Green Energy Auction (GEA) program’ by the second quarter of 2023,” said DOE Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla during a forum held last February 8. The first round of the auction was conducted in June last year. It generated almost 2,000 megawatts (MW) of capacities that were committed to deliver energy from 2023 to 2025 at a competitive price lower than or equal to the Green Energy Auction Reserve (GEAR) prices set by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
Lotilla said the DOE plans to conduct the GEA annually “to encourage more RE investments in the country.” He said that during the first GEA Round, the DOE issued 18 Certificate of Awards of RE capacity, which are “committed to go onstream beginning this year.”
The DOE said the GEA program “empowers consumers” with the option to source RE from a licensed supplier as opposed to consuming what is supplied by the distribution utility in their area. The program also promotes the use of RE to increase the share of clean energy in the country’s generation mix.
Other ways to transition to clean energy, Lotilla added, includes energy efficiency and conservation (EEC) measures and storage solutions.
“By taking these actions, we will reduce our overall energy consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and get one step closer to meeting our long-term energy goals,” he said.
The DOE is also currently scaling up the rollout of concrete plans and programs―demand side management, minimum energy performance for products, promotion of energy service companies and the government energy management program. The last program encourages the adoption of EEC and performance enhancements in public buildings and facilities, among others.
On energy storage system (ESS) in the power sector, the DOE is nearing completion of the enhanced ESS policy that provides a refined framework for its use. The ESS technologies will serve multiple functions, including energy generation, peak shaving, ancillary services and mitigating the intermittent generation output of variable renewable generating plants thereby ensuring power quality and system reliability. Lotilla said this will also be a key element in the smart grid policy, which the DOE promulgated to guide the electric power industry stakeholders in modernizing their respective electrical facilities.
