Philippines: 16 solar plants secure FIT rates

Philippines: 16 solar plants secure FIT rates

The Energy Regulatory Commission granted a feed-in tariff rate of P8.69 per
kilowatt-hour to 16 solar projects as endorsed by the Energy Department
under the second round of installation target.

"We already completed the issuance of CoCs [certificate of compliance] for
the solar power plants covered by the second round of FiT rate which is
P8.69 per kWh," ERC spokesman Rexie Digal said.

Digal said ERC completed the issuance of the CoCs on Dec. 5 to 8, 2016.

An FiT rate is an incentive in the form of guaranteed power rate given to
renewable energy producers for 20 years.

The regulator acted on the list of solar projects that met the March 15,
2016 deadline of the department to fill the 450-MW second round of
installation target for solar. The first round of solar installation target
was placed at 50 MW with a tariff rate of P9.68 per kWh.

Former Energy secretary Zenaida Monsada last year endorsed to ERC 17
projects totaling 417.05 MW under the second wave of installation target.

"Pursuant to the ERC rules, the power plants issued COEs by the DoE were
correspondingly issued their FIT-COCs," the regulator said.

The department earlier issued certificates of endorsement to the following
projects: 23-MW solar power project of San Carlos Solar Energy Inc.; 6.23-MW
Centrala solar project of nv vogt Philippines Solar Energy One Inc.;
13.14-MW Pampanga solar project II of Raslag Corp.; 2.66-MW Burgos solar
project II of Energy Development Corp. and 50.07-MW Tarlac solar project of
PetroSolar Corp.

Other projects endorsed by the DoE are 14.15-MW Hermosa solar power project
of YH Green Energy Inc.; 10.26-MW Cabanatuan solar project of First
Cabanatuan Renewable Ventures Inc.; 63.3-MW Calatagan solar project of Solar
Philippines Calatagan Corp.; 20-MW Currimao solar project of Mirae Asia
Energy Corp.; 8.- MW Valenzuela solar project of Valenzuela Solar Energy;
2.04-MW Lian solar project of Absolut Distrillers Inc.; and the18-MW Bais
solar project of Monte Solar Energy Inc.

The department also endorsed the 22.33-MW Clark solar project of Enfinity
Philippines Renewable Resources Inc.; 10.49-MW Kibawe solar project of Asian
Greenergy Corp.; 5.02-MW Palauig solar project of Sparc Solar Powered
Agri-Rural Communities Corp.; 15-MW Bulacan III solar project of Bulacan
Solar Energy Corp. and 132.5-MW Cadiz solar project of Helios Solar Energy
Corp.

Digal said all projects that were endorsed were given feed-in tariff COCs
"except Nv volt because it's still being inspected and processed."

Solar developers that failed to secure endorsements earlier asked the ERC
to review the process and asked for transparency on the eligibility
parameters.

The Confederation of Solar Developers of the Philippines Inc. asked the
government to allow 27 solar power projects with a capacity of 400 MW to
also avail of FiT rates given their huge contribution to the economy and low
impact to consumers.

The confederation said in a position paper the net impact of allowing all
projects to avail of the P8.69 per kWh in tariff for solar was "minuscule"
at P0.04 per kWh.

The group asked the government to allow "all excluded or oversubscribed
projects to be included in the FIT-2" as the investments were done in good
faith and the proponents contributed to the goal of raising the country's
solar configuration to 500 MW.

The group said the 27 excluded projects invested P31 billion to the economy
but the Energy Department endorsed only 60 percent of solar projects that
were able to meet the March 15 deadline.

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Link to Original Article:
http://thestandard.com.ph/business/226274/16-solar-plants-secure-fit-rates.h
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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com