DOE eyes 335-MW baseload from WTE auction

The Department of Energy (DOE) is gearing up for a landmark 335-megawatt (MW) waste-to-energy (WTE) auction as it seeks to turn the country’s mounting urban waste into a reliable source of baseload power.

At a media briefing on Friday, Energy Assistant Secretary Mylene C. Capongcol said the capacity target is based on a DOE-led assessment of municipal solid waste from 33 highly urbanized cities (HUCs).

“We are targeting before the year ends, we will issue the Notice of Award and Terms of Reference. Based on the study that we have undertaken for the HUCs, we are looking at 335 MW of baseload power plants when we do the auction,” Capongcol said. 

“We are confident that we will have a successful auction by next year,” she added.

Set for January 2026, the special Green Energy Auction will prioritize WTE projects sourcing waste from Metro Manila and other major urban centers.

According to data from the National Solid Waste Management Commission, these areas collectively generate about 6.12 million metric tons of municipal solid waste.

Capongcol said interest in WTE development has been growing, driven by local government demand for sustainable waste disposal and private sector appetite for clean energy investments.

“We see that with the initiatives we are doing, our capacity can grow higher,” she said, while noting the high capital requirements for such projects. 

“We all know that it is quite expensive to develop WTE and if you are going into thermal combustion, you would need around P350 to P430 million per MW and P400 to P440 million per MW of anaerobic digestion and combustion. Gasification is the most costly at P470 million per MW,” she said. 

The DOE’s 2022 study found that the country’s total WTE potential reaches 445 MW, with 296 MW in Luzon, 76 MW in the Visayas, and 73 MW in Mindanao, depending on available feedstock.

At present, there are nine registered WTE projects nationwide, five of which are operational—including landfill methane recovery, refuse-derived fuel, and biogas facilities—with a combined capacity of 9.69 MW and 650 metric tons per day of RDF output.

Four others under development account for another 127 MW of capacity.

Among the notable projects are the 100-MW Manila Integrated Energy Corp. plant in Manila using direct combustion and the 15-MW Lecra-Eco facility in Batangas that combines biomethanation and combustion.

Beyond Metro Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, and Tarlac are also pursuing WTE projects through ongoing feasibility studies and public-private partnership engagements.