San Carlos Solar Energy gets ERC certificate

MANILA, Philippines - The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has granted San Carlos Solar Energy (Sacasol) a certificate of compliance (COC) under the feed-in-tariff (FIT) system.

“This completes the final chapter of the energy project’s implementation and marks the beginning of its renewable energy purchase agreement (REPA) and its corresponding FIT system,” Sacasol said in announcing its COC, which it said is the first ever COC under the FIT system.

FIT is a set of incentives given to renewable energy players.

Under the FIT system, renewable energy companies are entitled to the following rates: P9.68 per kwh for solar power, P8.53 per kwh for wind and P5.90 per kwh for run-of-river hydroelectric power.

Sacasol president Sech Zabaleta said the certificates were given to the projects two phases, Sacasol IA, which has a capacity of 13 MW; and IB, which has a capacity of nine MW.

The two phases began commercial operations in May and August 2014, respectively.

Last January, the Department of Energy endorsed Sacasol as eligible for FIT. It is the only solar project endorsed by the DOE for FIT eligibility, Zabaleta said.

The other projects, spanning biomass, wind and hydro energy sources, await their COCs, which should follow suit in the coming months.