Strong investor interest pushes GEA-3 bids past installation goal

Renewable energy (RE) developers demonstrated strong interest in the third round of the Green Energy Auction (GEA-3), with bids surpassing the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 4,650-megawatt (MW) installation capacity target.

In a report released last week, the DOE announced that GEA-3 attracted 14 project bids, offering a total capacity of 7,530.89 MW for delivery between 2025 and 2035.

“This marks a significant step towards realizing the energy agenda of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to accelerate the country’s transition to renewable energy and attain energy security and reliability,” the agency said in a statement.

The Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) is designed to boost RE capacity and help the country achieve its targets of increasing renewable energy’s share in the power generation mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.

Unlike previous auctions, GEA-3 focused on RE technologies not covered by the feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, such as pumped-storage hydropower (PSH), impounding hydropower, and geothermal energy.

Bids for PSH projects reached 6,950 MW—far exceeding the DOE’s 4,250 MW target capacity for the Luzon and Visayas grids.

“Pumped-storage hydropower 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 at the same time can inject power into the grid for supply augmentation and balance the intermittency of VREs in the power system towards achieving energy security,” the DOE explained.

At present, the country’s only operational PSH facility is the government-owned Kalayaan 1 and 2 in Laguna, with a combined capacity of 300 MW.

Meanwhile, bids for impounding hydropower projects reached 550 MW, surpassing the 300 MW target. These projects will serve the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao grids.

However, interest in geothermal energy was lower than expected, with bids totaling only 30.89 MW—well below the 100 MW target capacity. These projects will also supply power to Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The DOE will announce the winning bids once the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has reviewed and validated the price offers.

“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 added.