DOE: 9 bids advance in offshore wind auction

MANILA, Philippines — Only nine companies remain in contention for the country’s first offshore wind auction and are now advancing to the next stage of the evaluation process, a senior official of the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

Energy Undersecretary Mylene Capongcol said of the 95 service contracts awarded by the government, only 20 signified their intent to participate in the fifth green energy auction (GEA-5).

The pool of applications was subsequently narrowed to nine after only these contracts passed the initial stage of evaluation. The bids will next be assessed based on their infrastructure development plans.

“We are hoping to issue the list of qualified bidders by July 3,” Capongcol said yesterday on the sidelines of the 2026 Asia Clean Energy Forum held by the Asian Development Bank.

Capongcol said the remaining bids have a combined capacity of 9,256 megawatts, still way above the DOE’s 3,300-MW installation target for GEA-5.

The landmark auction will exclusively cover fixed-bottom offshore wind projects, with delivery timelines spanning 2028 to 2030.

Under the GEA-5 timetable, the auction proper is scheduled for Aug. 27, with notices of award to winning bidders expected by Sept. 23.

Certificates of award for compliant winning bidders, meanwhile, could be issued as early as February 2027.

Even as the auction process moves forward, Capongcol said key challenges continue to stand in the way, including permitting bottlenecks, inadequate port infrastructure and constraints in the power transmission network.

“I believe the DOE has been doing a lot of innovative policies and frameworks to be able to make use of the generation coming from this offshore wind,” she said.

GEA-5 supports the national target of increasing the share of renewables in the power mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040 from the current 25 percent.

It is also aligned with the government’s goal of generating the first kilowatt-hours of offshore wind power before President Marcos’ term ends in 2028.