Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr on his 5th SONA. Photo courtesy of PCO.
Following the ‘sea of garbage’ that caused massive flooding and witnessed personally by President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., the Department of Energy (DoE) has been instructed to implement its waste-to-energy (WtE) program within 18 months.
While monitoring the clearing and waste collection operation at the Diokno Pumping Station in Pasay City, the President expressed recognition that while the WtE program would not be easy to do, the technical aspects of the technology have already been finalized and from this the government can set up a working scheduled for its implementation.
“It’s not so easy to do because we have to put the system together—we have never done it before,” Marcos Jr. noted candidly.
“(But) in terms of the technical side, that’s done . . . now what we are trying to do is to put the system together,” he added.
Accordingly, energy secretary Sharon Garin disclosed that the DoE has already resumed activities for the special auction round for WtE under the agency’s Green Energy Auction Program.
Garin likewise announced that they have raised their installation target from 230 megawatts (MW) to 400 MW and also revised the auction terms to encourage broader private sector investment.
“The auction proper is scheduled on October 13 (2026), with winning bidders’ projects expected to achieve mechanical completion by the end of 2028 and begin delivering electricity by the end of 2029,” she cited.
Based on estimates, Metro Manila generates around 9,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste daily, which could potentially support up to 200 MW of WtE capacity.
However, Secretary Garin enthused that the facilities for WtE must meet strict environmental safeguards while providing a reliable way to manage residual waste and generate useful energy.
“We want projects that are technically sound, environmentally compliant, supported by sustainable feedstock, commercially viable, and capable of delivering electricity to the grid,” Garin asserted.
Conclusively, the energy chief clarified that WtE technology is intended to complement, rather than replace, the government’s existing waste reduction, segregation, reuse, recycling and materials recovery efforts.