WIND, natural gas, and solar power projects make up most of the projects in the medium-term pipeline, the Department of Energy (DoE) reported, citing data on “indicative” projects compiled as of August.
Of the 60,362.16 megawatts (MW) of indicative power projects, about 83% or 50,366.96 MW are renewables dominated by wind power projects with total capacity of 34,080.50 MW.
Natural gas, solar, and hydropower projects accounted for 8,320 MW, 7,987.60 MW, and 7,811.86 MW, respectively.
This was followed by coal-fired power plants with 1,520 MW and geothermal with 413 MW.
Meanwhile, oil-based and biomass projects had capacities of 155.20 MW and 74 MW, respectively.
Indicative projects are those that are currently in the pre-development stage.
Private sector-initiated projects with target commercial operations have a total capacity of 58,002.16 MW.
Meanwhile, committed projects, or those that are in the construction phase or have achieved financial closing, have a total capacity of 12,506.59 MW.
The pipeline of projects includes those without a firm commercial operations date and those where the date is beyond 2027.
Of the total, natural gas projects account for 6,070 MW. Renewable energy (RE) projects had a combined total of 4,044.88 MW. Coal-fired power plants accounted for 2,305 MW.
In July, the Department of Energy issued notices of award for 105 winning bids in the second Green Energy Auction (GEA-2), covering projects generating 3,440 MW, well below the 11,600-MW capacity on offer.
The project timelines are between 2024 and 2026.
The GEA program aims to promote RE as a primary source of energy through competitive selection.
As of the end of 2022, RE accounted for about 22% of the energy mix, with coal-fired power plants accounting for almost 60%.
The government hopes to increase the share of RE to 35% by 2030 and to 50% by 2040. Last year, the DoE raised the Renewable Portfolio Standards requirement to 2.52% per annum starting 2023, from 1% per annum previously. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera
