DOE to release new PH energy plan by September
By Alena Mae S. Flores – March 1, 2023, 6:50 pm
from manilastandard.net
The Department of Energy expects to release the updated Philippine Energy Plan covering up to 2050 by September this year.
“We just finished the planning conference. We revisited our targets and the results matrix, especially for the medium term. And we expect to finalize the numbers by June so that hopefully by September we were able to come up with the Philippine Energy Plan up to 2050,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines’ induction ceremony Tuesday night.
PEP is a comprehensive energy blueprint supporting the government’s long-term visions. It reiterates the energy sector’s goal to chart a transformative direction toward attaining a clean energy future.
Lotilla said the DOE was focused on energy supply security, universal access to affordable energy and managing the transition to a low-carbon future.
“All in line with the mandate of the DOE to ensure that energy is affordable, reliable, clean, sustainable & climate-centered and accessible while harnessing the private sector as the engine of the country’s growth,” Lotilla said.
He said the DOE stewardship of the energy sector would only be meaningful if based on shared principles and close cooperation with consumers, private business, all other stakeholders, legislature and the media.
“Among the different sectors of the economy, energy sector is among those most dependent on the private sector. The government sets the policies, but the private sector drives investments and operations in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors,” he said.
He said DOE facilitates the market’s ability to provide an optimal mix—diversified fuel sources that would deliver an adequate and the least-social-cost supply – towards a smooth clean energy transition that respects technological neutrality and a level playing field.
He said the DOE, in support of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s vision, would do everything legally possible to ensure the realization of a secure, equitable and sustainable energy future.
He said innovation in renewable energy is key to the country’s energy transition.
“We have eased the foreign ownership limit for RE projects. We have equally addressed a number of other things, so the mandatory and preferential dispatch of RE facilitates an increasing RE investments,” the energy chief said.
The DOE targets to bring the RE share in the power generation mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040 from 22 percent at present.
“The current pace of technological innovation is paving a new era for next-generation renewable technologies to emerge swiftly. With this, the government has identified offshore wind energy as one of its top priorities in the country’s RE sector,” Lotilla said.
