DOE launches online monitoring, trading platform for RE certificates

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy launched an online monitoring and trading platform for renewable energy certificates (RECs) to further comply with the RE Law of 2008.

During the launch Tuesday, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said the PREMS would be used by the RE registrar to track, monitor, and assess the implementation and compliance to the Renewable Portfolio Standards Rules (RPS) for both on-grid and off-grid areas.

He said the PREMS—which will be operated by the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) as the RE registrar starting Jan. 1, 2020 – would be a tool to ensure that industry participants comply with the RPS requirements and other policy mechanisms provided for by the RE Law.

“The creation of the PREMS highlights the prospects of the country in empowering the Filipino to venture further into the modern trends that include smart metering, micro grids, block chain utilization, and the global movement towards sustainable energy technologies,” Cusi said.

The DOE expects a faster transition towards a greener energy environment with the operation of PREMS, especially as the agency recently promulgated the Renewable Energy Market (REM) Rules and RPS Rules.

“The PREMS, as an on-line enterprise platform, will facilitate market competitiveness, efficiency, and transparency in the trading of RE certificates based on the REM Rules,” Cusi said.

A mechanism under the RE Act, the REM is a market for the trading of RECs under the RPS and green energy option program (GEOP).

RPS requires distribution utilities to source a portion of their power supply from eligible renewable energy producers while GEOP empowers end-users to choose renewable energy resources for their energy requirements.

The PREMS was originally scheduled for implementation in January 2019.

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

UNDP and GEF have given the DOE a financial grant amounting to $38 million for the project, which is aimed 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.

Meanwhile, climate and environmental advocates, faith-based organizations, labor groups, youth, women’s groups, and power consumers have reiterated their call to shun coal and develop more clean energy projects.

The Power for People Coalition (P4P) said the current administration must help itself walk President Duterte’s clean energy talk by severely reviewing existing policies in the energy sector which enabled the dominance of destructive and expensive electricity from coal at the cost of consumers’ welfare.

Citing a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) last year, P4P said radical changes in the power sector must be done in order to comply with the Paris Agreement.

“As the Philippines is among the countries in the world most vulnerable to climate disasters, all corporations, financial institutions, and government bodies within or outside our shores still insisting on the use of coal are obstructions to our path to survival, and to a future powered by clean energy,” Arances said.