A month after announcing that they had decided on the FeedIn Tariff Rates (FIT) for the Renewable Energy sector, the National Renewable Energy Board announced that they have submitted already for approval the FIT rates. As more light gets shed into the matter with this recent announcement, it turns out that the recommended FIT is actually graded depending on the type of renewable energy investment.

The following are the recommended FIT rates based on the type of renewable energy project: solar power (P17.95/kWH), ocean power (P17.65/kWh), wind power (P10.37/kWh), biomass (P7/kWh) and hydro (P6.15/kWh)
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Publicly listed Ayala Corp disclosed that they would enter into a joint veture with Sta. Clara Power Corp in order to develop hydro electric power plants around the country. This venture would be accomplished through their subsidiary, Michigan Power Inc. (MPI). Ayala Corp would have a 70% ownership in the venture with an infusion of P600 million.

Ayala Corp has been primarily known as a leading real estate developer and mall operator in the Philippines with their very successful investments in the Makati district. Unknown to most people is that they have also other successful investments in different facets of industry (car and electronics manufacturing to name a few)
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H&WB Corp announced that they were planning to build power plants that could supply 3000MW of power to the national grid by 2018. The energy according to them will be sourced from hydropower and underwater current which means that it will be hydro electric based.

The scheduled power build up is 1000 MW by the 1st quarter of 2012 till 2015. Another 500MW by 2017 with the remaining 1500 MW balance by 2018. This however will still be dictated by the power requirements of the country come 2015.
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Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) announced plans to put up more power plants in Davao and the Mt. Province. Particularly in Sita (Davao) and Sabangan (Mt. Province). The Sita plant straddles the border of Bukidnon and Davao.

Not announced was the tentative date of construction as well as whether the government has already given them approval. Given however the severe power shortage in Mindanao where some regions are experiencing 6 hours brownouts per day, I doubt they would have a hard time convincing the local government and the host communities, if their recent experience with the Tamugan power plant were used as a basis.
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Oriental Energy and Power Generation Corp (OEPGC) recently had four of its mini-hydro electric projects service contracts approved by the Department of Energy (DOE). This brings to 5 the total of mini hydro electric projects that they have in the country.

The recently approved service contracts were for the 15MW Culaman in Manolo Fortich Bukidnon in Mindanao and for the construction of mini hydro’s in the upper, middle and lower parts of the Odiangan River in Misamis Oriental that will generate a total of 22 MW.
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After more than a year, the two sides have finally inked a pact that calls for joint development of the Tamugan River as a hydro electric energy source by Hedcor and as a water supply source by DCWD.

The memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed at Marco Polo Davao Hotel on Thursday afternoon and was described as “win-win” solution for both parties. DCWD finally relented to Hedcor as the latter had agreed to the formers request to not divert water from the Talomo river and to locate the hydro electric power plant at a lower elevation than the structures of the Davao City Water District (DCWD). Because of this, the power plant of Hedcor will only be able to generate 15 MW of power now instead of the proposed 27.5 MW and they will have to tap the water 400 meters below the surface water development project of DCWD.
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