Philippines launches renewable energy and storage tender in 2024

The DOE deputy secretary highlighted “the growing importance of energy storage systems in our goal of a sustainable and resilient energy future,” opening his remarks at the Singapore event.

Marasigan drew the audience’s attention to the Philippine Energy Plan 2023-2050, a policy document that provides the strategic direction and implementation framework for energy system planning through mid-century.

This includes achieving ambitious renewable energy targets, such as rapidly achieving a 35 percent share by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040, and steadily increasing this share thereafter.

“Our journey towards a cleaner future is marked by the widespread use of variable renewable energy sources such as solar energy and the Philippine Energy Plan 2023-2050,” the Deputy Secretary said.

The government has put in place market mechanisms to support these goals, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), a green energy auction scheme with a framework for new additional renewable capacity “to ensure adequate supply is secured through a competitive process” and a renewable energy credit (REC) trading market for RPS-certified generation.

It also introduced schemes to enable consumers to switch to renewable energy retail suppliers, among other initiatives. The Deputy Secretary also noted that the government was encouraging foreign investment in the energy sector.

Energy storage is considered an important tool to cope with the development of renewable energy sources and the challenges that variability of solar energy generation poses to grid stability.

Philippine President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. attended the inauguration of a 90-MWh grid-scale BESS plant last year and commented on the importance the government places on energy storage for these reasons.

Marasigan said that while all options are being considered to help the country meet its goals, including pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PHES), the country has only one existing pumped-storage facility built decades ago, and the long lead times for new facilities, about five to seven years, according to a DOE official, mean that battery storage is “the single most important component of our energy storage needs.”

The DOE official said the Energy Plan for 2023-2050 calls for the deployment of at least 20 GW of energy storage under modeled scenarios, and “proactive steps” are being taken at the national level to accelerate storage deployment.

“For example, the Department of Energy will hold a green auction later this year for variable renewable energy integrated with battery storage systems,” Marasigan said.

“This initiative aims to support the development of energy storage, particularly batteries, and to increase the use of renewable energy sources across our grid system. This auction is expected to promote integrated, variable renewable energy and energy storage systems and encourage the adoption of integrated solutions that combine our renewable energy with energy storage. It will also increase fiscal incentives for our energy storage systems.”

Marasigan said BESS combined with renewables would be treated as a component of a complete renewable generation asset under the auction’s regulatory terms, and later, responding to an audience question during an afternoon panel discussion, said that meant they would not lose their “must-run” priority dispatch status.

The Philippine government will also soon launch a call for micro-grids using renewable energy and energy storage in rural areas to reduce or replace the use of diesel generators. To this end, it plans to deploy photovoltaic, BESS and diesel backup generators in about 48 locations across the archipelago, the deputy secretary said.

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