Foreign firms on search for energy investments

By Myrna M. Velasco – September 4, 2018, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin

Investors from across continents had swamped an annual major event bullishly looking for investment opportunities in the energy sector across industry and technology chains.

At the opening ceremony of the Powertrends Conference and Exhibition at the SMX Convention Center, representatives from various embassies with their business contingents were in the event on the lookout for prospective ventures in the country.

This year’s energy conference delved with a suite of technology options that investors could opt for in the industry investments – from power generation focusing generally on renewable energy (RE) to innovative applications like electric vehicles, internet of things (IoT) as well as digitalization in the whole chain of the industry.

In attendance have been Denmark Ambassador Jan Top Christenses, Canada Ambassador John T. Holmes, Myanmar Ambassador Wan Naing, United Arab Emirates Ambassador Hamad Saees Alzaabi, Saudi Arabia Ambassador Addullah N.A. Al Bussairy, Singapore Ambassador Kok Li Peng and Spanish Embassy Economic and Commercial Counsellor Pedro Pascual representing Ambassador Luis Calvo.

The other trade and diplomatic offices represented have been the British Embassy, New Zealand, Cambodia, Hungary, Brazil, Singapore, Japan and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Indonesia and Mexico.

According to the conference organizers, many foreign investors have swamped this year’s energy event because they are in search for investments according to the preference and technology applications of companies coming from their respective countries.

Basically, the Philippines is at the center of attention of the world for several reasons – it is into its vital transition into its more massive rollout of more RE installations, that will be in keeping with the government-underpinned Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).

That new policy for the RE sector targets an installation of 15,300 megawatts until year 2030 (either solar, wind, biomass, tidal or waste-to-energy facilities) – and it is an investment regime following the country’s exit from the feed-in-tariff (FIT) scheme.

The Philippines is similarly on its gas industry reset – primarily in the power sector, paving the way for required installation of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, an area that could also be a ‘good capture point’ for new energy investments.

Digitalization as well as the emerging trend being propagated by blockchain, or the distributed ledger of trading electricity, are other spheres that are also being explored both by visionary and information technology (IT)-enabling investors.