The first Green Energy Auction: 1,966 MW awarded

The first Green Energy Auction was held on 17 June 2022. Of the 2,000 MW on offer, about 1,966 MW was awarded, for delivery from 2023 under twenty-year contracts at the reserve prices the regulator had set. Solar took about three quarters of it, onshore wind most of the rest, and biomass about 100 MW.

Compiled in September 2026 from the releases of the time, with the revisions the agencies have published since. Nothing here is a forecast.

How the round worked

The programme, published in 2020, offers capacity by technology and by grid: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Bidders offer a price at or below the Green Energy Auction Reserve price the Energy Regulatory Commission sets for each technology, and the lowest offers are awarded until the lot is filled. The contract is with the distribution utilities collectively, under a supply agreement administered by the transmission corporation, and the cost is passed to consumers through a line on the bill.

What it replaced

Until this round, a renewable plant sold either under the feed-in tariff, closed to new solar and wind since 2016, or through a bilateral contract with a utility or a retail supplier. The auction created a third route, open to anyone with a service contract and a grid impact study, and it set a public price for each technology for the first time since the tariff.

The biomass lot

The biomass allocation was small, at 100 MW, and it went to plants burning agricultural residue in Luzon and the Visayas. The reserve price for biomass was the highest of the four technologies, which reflects its fuel cost, and it is the one auction technology that also produces heat. For a mill with residue and a boiler, the round was the first sign that the offtake question had a public answer.

What came after

A second round followed in July 2023, four times the size, and a third for dispatchable plants in 2025. The first round's real product was the process: a date, a price and a contract that a lender could read.

We work with developers and technology providers on the Philippine execution side: permits, grid, fuel and construction. Tell us about the project. The figures behind each quarter are in the quarterly market brief.