Philippine solar developers want FIT reduced

The price of solar electricity from renewable energy sources in the Philippines will remain double that of China’s despite a move to lower the Feed-in-Tariff.

The Philippine Solar Power Alliance (PSPA) has asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a lower FIT of P15.22 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for solar power development projects. That’s P2.73 per kWh below the original filing of P17.95 requested in May 2011.

PSPA made it decision to ask a lower FIT following the collapse of the global solar market that caused prices of solar panels to plummet. The new charge, however, remains significantly higher than the P10 to P12 per kWh the Philippine Congress seems to favor.

It’s also more than double the P7 per kWh charged by China for renewable energy.

PSPA also said it might petition a further cut in FIT to P14.59 per kWh if prices of solar panels fall by 10%.

FIT gives guaranteed market-competitive payments to renewable energy producers for every kilowatt-hour of electricity their projects generate.

It is also a guaranteed payment given to renewable energy investors funded by a universal charge collected from power consumers. With FIT, Philippine renewable energy developers are assured of future cash flow since electricity end-users will pay fixed amounts to cover the production of renewable energy.