The Department of Energy (DOE) said Wednesday it received total offers amounting to 7,500 megawatts (MW) under the third round of the Green Energy Auction (GEA-3), exceeding the installation target of 4,650 MW.
The successful conduct of GEA 3 on Feb. 11, 2025 marks a significant step towards realizing the energy agenda of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to accelerate the country’s transition to renewable energy (RE) and attain energy security and reliability.
The auction round demonstrated an overwhelming response from industry stakeholders.
A total of 14 projects, with delivery period from 2025 to 2035, were submitted during the auction. This was lower than the 21 projects the DOE was anticipating to be delivered under GEA-3.
The DOE said pumped storage hydro (PSH) had the biggest offered capacity at 6,950 MW, higher than the 4,250 MW target installation target set by the agency.
PSH has the capability to perform as an energy storage facility that can complement generation from variable renewable energy (VRE) sources such as solar and wind, but can also inject power into the grid for supply augmentation and balance the intermittency of VREs in the power system towards achieving energy security.
The only PSH in the country are the government-owned Kalayaan 1 and 2 in Laguna with a total capacity of over 300 MW.
This is followed by impounding hydro which received an offer capacity of 550 MW, higher than the original target of 300 MW while geothermal received an offer of 30.887 MW, lower than the 100 MW installation target.
The DOE said the aggregate capacity of accepted bids underscores the growing confidence of investors and developers in the renewable energy sector.
It said the list of winning bidders will be posted on the DOE website once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) completed its review of the price offers.
The bids in the auction were ranked based on offers from lowest to highest bid price and stacked corresponding to the respective RE technology until the installation target is met.
The certificate of award will be released to the winning bidder upon complete submission of the post-auction documents under Section 9 of the Terms of Reference and affirmed in order by the GEA-Bids Evaluation and Awards Committee.
The DOE targets to issue the notice of award for GEA-3 to winning bidders from May 20 to 21, 2025 and issue the certificate of award on June 6 to July 4, 2025.
