Philippines Pre-Qualifying Bidders for 3.3 GW Offshore Wind Auction

The Philippines’ Department of Energy (DOE) has opened a registration period for potential bidders to qualify for the Fifth Auction Round of the Green Energy Auction Program (GEA-5), officially starting activities for the country’s first offshore wind auction.

The registration for pre-qualification commenced on 2 March and will close on 16 March, with the qualification process to last until early July, when a list of qualified bidders will be posted by the DOE.

The bidding process will start at the end of July 2026 and will take until the end of September to complete and for the provisional winning bidders to be announced, according to a notice the DOE issied on 2 March.

The Fifth Green Energy Auction (GEA-5) is the Philippines’ first auction round dedicated exclusively to offshore wind, for which the DOE issued the official Notice of Auction and Terms of Reference on 25 November 2025.

The auction will offer 3.3 GW of offshore wind capacity for delivery between 2028 and 2030, and is dedicated only to fixed-bottom offshore wind developments that are consistent with current grid and port readiness, according to earlier information shared by the DOE.

In February, the government awarded grid connection agreements to three offshore wind projects that have a combined planned capacity of 1,650 MW, half of what the country’s first auction will offer.

The projects are the 450 MW Frontera Bay, the 600 MW Guimaras Strait, and the 600 MW Guimaras Strait II, all owned by the same consortium, comprising Seawind Asia, Stream Invest Holdings, and Triconti ECC Renewables.

The agreements set out the technical conditions and transmission requirements for connecting the projects to the Philippine grid. Under the country’s regulatory framework, projects must secure grid connection arrangements before participating in renewable energy auctions.