UNDP seeks bids to develop renewable energy sector in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is seeking bids to develop a nationwide system for the  commercialization of renewable energy markets in the Philippines.

UNDP’s Philippine Country Office is inviting interested parties to submit their expression of interest (EOIs) to bid for the development of software, supply and delivery of hardware for the implementation of the Philippine Renewable Energy Market System (PREMS).

According to UNDP, the contractor will be responsible in developing, customizing, installing and testing application software, hardware and equipment, as well as provide system documentation for any development activities for the PREMS. It will provide user trainings.

The development of PREMS is part of the joint effort of UNDP, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) called Development for Renewable Energy Applications Mainstreaming and Market Sustainability (DREAMS) project.

The project secured a $38 million grant from UNDP and GEF.

It is intended to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by promoting and facilitating the commercialization of the RE markets through the removal of barriers to increase investments in RE-based power generation projects.

This will be achieved through the enforcement of a supportive policy and regulatory environment for leveraging investment in RE development and applications at the local level; strengthened institutional capacity that leads to increased RE investment at the local level and increased share of RE-based power capacity.

UNDP said the DREAMS project would lead to direct lifetime GHG emission reductions of 2.445 ktons CO2, and indirect CO2 reductions ranging from 4,889 to 141,000 ktons CO2.

The Philippine Renewable Energy Act was passed in into law in 2008 to promote the development, utilization and commercialization of renewable energy resources.

But 10 years into the law, some provisions have not yet been implemented such as the Green Energy Option, which empowers end-users to choose renewable energy resources for their energy requirements, and the Renewable Energy Market, which functions much like the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market but for trading energy from renewable sources.

So far, only the feed-in tariff system, the net-metering for RE for end-users and renewable portfolio standards have only been enforced.