Solar Philippines storms country's 1st renewables auction

The Philippine government has achieved a success rate of about 98.35% in its first renewable energy auction as it resulted in 1,490 MW of solar and 374 MW of wind awards.

In total, the Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded 1,966.93 MW of renewable energy capacity in three regions – Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao – versus a target of 2,000 MW.

Originally, a total of 230 MW of biomass was on offer but only 3.4 MW was awarded. The hydropower awards were just below 100 MW against a target of 130 MW.

This was compensated for by a strong interest in solar power, as the DOE awarded more than the initially planned 1,260 MW. More details are available in the table below.

Local developer Solar Philippines ended up being the biggest winner in the auction, securing 1,380 MW out of the 1,967 MW awarded capacity, or 70% of the total. Moreover, it got 91% of the solar awards – 1,350 MW.

The company said separately that it will source a portion from the first 500 MW being developed by Solar Philippines Nueva Ecija Corporation (SPNEC). The balance will come from projects subject to a planned asset-for-share swap between the parent company and SPNEC, including Tarlac-2 (400 MW), Quezon (800 MW), Leyte (400 MW) and GenSan (200 MW).

This means that Solar Philippines has now contracted more than 6 GW of solar capacity.

“When we began talking about 10 GW, many were in disbelief, because the total installed solar capacity of the Philippines last year was just over 1.1 GW. But we hope that having contracts for the majority of 10 GW has now made this plausible,” said Solar Philippines founder Leandro Leviste.

The company has at least one more power supply offer to be disclosed, it noted.

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