PH eyeing P2.98-T worth of RE projects
By Myrna M. Velasco – July 8, 2021, 2:03 PM
from Manila Bulletin
The government is eyeing to corner P2.984 trillion worth of renewable energy (RE) investments in line with the country’s clean energy scenario (CES) pathway that it targets to concretize in a span of two decades.
In an Energy Investment Forum, Director Jesus T. Tamang of the Department of Energy-Energy Policy and Planning Bureau (DOE-EPPB), emphasized that such scale of capital to be funneled into the RE sector will become part of the P11.041 trillion aggregate energy investments previously penciled in by the agency.
He qualified that the anticipated capital flow will add 75,325 megawatts of power capacity in the country’s energy mix – and the lion’s share of 45,337MW will be coming from RE installations as cast under the updated Philippine Energy Plan.
For the RE ventures alone, the magnitude of job generation crunched by the DOE had been placed at 131,240; while for the entire energy sector, it could employ up to 766,015 Filipino workers.
“As part of the 75, 325MW of required additional capacity, 45,327MW will be provided by renewable energy – driven mainly by the expected additional capacity coming in between now and 2040. The energy sector is expected to bring in a minimum of P11 trillion new investments to the economy,” Tamang reiterated.
He expounded that the CES-anchored energy planning of the country will primarily lean on RE developments – and this shall be underpinned by key policies, such as the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS); Green Energy Option Program (GEOP) as well as net metering mechanism for those who are prepping themselves as ‘prosumers’ or consumers that will be producing their own electricity requirements.
Other than RE, project developments from now and in the next 15 to 20 years, shall also be tilted toward other clean energy technologies, chiefly gas; and then the propagation of energy efficiency (EE) ventures and technology deployments.
“During the planning period, the power sector is expected to have a structural change toward greater share of natural gas, RE and other technologies for power generation,” Tamang stressed.
He further noted “the structural change in the power sector will shift our reliance on power generation to RE and cleaner fossil fuels, specifically natural gas and alternative fuels and technologies. This shift is expected to take place in 2035, where RE and natural gas are to dominate our power generation.”
Nevertheless, Tamang specified that the Philippines’ long enduring love affair with coal technology in the power generation mix may still persist, albeit, it will already have overall lower share in the country’s energy pie.
“Coal will continue to be with us, but its share will be reduced from a high of 55-percent to just 33-percent by 2040,” the energy official said.
On the sphere of the transport sector, he similarly highlighted that this will continue “to be reliant on oil for fuel despite the program to make use of electricity and other fuels to move the different vehicles, including the mass transport system.”
He stated that since the Philippines is an oil-importing economy, “part of the energy security is also the need for us to be able to have our required oil storage capacity and the establishment of a strategic petroleum reserve.”
