DOE opens several PDAs for direct applications

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) has declared open for direct application several pre-determined areas offered for potential renewable energy development, which received no applications or had incomplete submissions under the 4th Open and Competitive Selection Process (OCSP4).

The DOE said several PDAs received no applications during the opening of bids for the OCSP4 for hydropower, geothermal and wind energy resources in September.

These PDAs include six for hydropower and one for geothermal.

In addition, the agency said two PDAs for hydropower received applications but were disqualified due to incomplete submission and denial of its motion for reconsideration.

The DOE said applications for six PDAs for hydropower and one for wind were disqualified for not passing the evaluation.

“Pursuant to Section 7 of the OCSP4 guidelines, with respect to the foregoing PDAs, is declared failure of OCSP,” the DOE said.

“Consequently, the abovementioned PDAs are now open for direct applications following the procedures prescribed under Department Circular DC2019-10-003 or the Omnibus Guidelines Governing the Award and Administration of Renewable Energy Contracts and the Registration of Renewable Energy Developers,” it said.

The DOE said applications for said areas should be made through the agency’s Energy Virtual One Stop Shop or EVOSS platform effective immediately.

Meanwhile, four applications were determined to have met the minimum evaluation criteria, and were declared the winning bidders.

These are Energy Development Corp.’s bid applications for two geothermal PDAs – the Buguias-Tinoc geothermal project which has a potential capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) and the Mt. Sembrano geothermal project with a potential 20-MW capacity.

The other two are PDAs for wind power projects from Freya Renewables Inc. and South Luzon Energy Solutions Inc.

The PDAs refer to locations with potential renewable energy resources, as supported by sufficient technical data, and are suitable for further development.

The OCSP was adopted as a mode for the selection and award of renewable energy contracts particularly for identified PDAs through a bidding process.

A total of 20 PDAs were offered under the OCSP4, with three PDAs for geothermal resources with a total potential capacity of 160 MW, 14 PDAs for hydropower resources with a total potential capacity of 87.96 MW, and three PDAs for wind resources.

The OCSP4 was the first OCSP round to offer PDAs for wind projects, resulting from the recently completed resource assessment for wind energy in the Philippines.