DOE to push through with mini-hydro power bidding

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) will push through with the country’s first auction of numerous mini-hydropower projects in the second half next year.

Conglomerates and small firms alike have expressed interest in bidding for 40 potential sites of mini-hydropower projects, a DOE official said.

“We cannot do it in the first half because we lack preparation and it is election season,” Mario Marasigan, director of the Energy Utilization and Management Bureau of the DOE, said in an interview.

He said the DOE cannot award service contracts 45 days before and after the elections, which is scheduled on May 13.

Hence, the auction can be conducted in the second half, Marasigan said.

The DOE earlier targeted to conduct a bidding for the mini-hydropower projects late this year. However, the DOE is still adjusting from a change in leadership.

Marasigan said the DOE will soon prepare the terms of reference for the auction.

All 40 sites will be auctioned like petroleum and coal service contracts under the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR).

In the PECR, the DOE evaluates bidders’ planned working program that includes capital spending and exploration program.

Early this year, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) completed its technical study for mini-hydropower projects.

JICA’s two-year study showed the viability of putting up 40 to 50 run-of-river hydropower sites in Luzon and the Visayas.

The DOE earlier expressed confidence that investors will flock the auction given guaranteed profits through the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme.

The FIT scheme guarantees return on investments of renewable energy firms through fixed rates that would be shouldered by consumers for 20 years.

The sites up for bidding are believed to be conducive for hydropower projects with a generating capacity one to 10 megawatts.

To date, the Philippines sources 35 percent its total power requirements from renewable energy sources like geothermal, hydropower, wind, solar and biomass.