Philippine FIT to begin in 2014

Solar power producers to be the first to benefit from new Feed-in Tariffs.

Solar power plants with a capacity ranging from 3MW and 5MW are expected to be the first to supply renewable electricity to the national grid, said Mario Marasigan, head of the Department of Energy’s renewable energy bureau.

“A FIT mechanism is relatively new to us… it took us a while to learn and really decipher what is the best means for us,” Marasigan said. FIT guarantees renewable energy producers an extra amount of money above the market rate for every kilowatt of clean power they sell.

Geothermal and wind energy project, however, will probably come online in the next three to five years away. Industry and green groups have complained that since the renewable energylaw was introduced, FIT has been received a low priority.

The government only approved the FIT rates in July 2012, and has not yet approved any of the hundreds of projects that have submitted applications to participate.