PH tops RE utilization in ASEAN
By Myrna M. Velasco – July 5, 2020, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
The Philippines ranks highest in the utilization of renewable energy (RE) as part of its generation mix, beating its peers in the Southeast Asian region.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi conveyed in a recent forum on Energy and Sustainable Development that “our country continues to have the highest renewable energy mix within the ASEAN region.”
Based on 2019 statistics, the energy chief noted that RE “accounted for 33-percent of the Philippines total primary energy supply.” The country’s RE developments are across multiplicity of technologies like hydro, geothermal, wind, solar and biomass with targets of technology coupling for battery storage, primarily for the installations with intermittent generation capacity.
With that record, the energy chief emphasized that the Philippines is “10-percent ahead vis-à-vis the regional target set forth in the ASEAN Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation.”
Said plan aims to increase the RE component of the ASEAN total primary energy mix to 23-percent by year 2025; and Philippine figures manifest that it is undoubtedly racing faster versus target.
The Department of Energy (DOE) indicated that since the passage of the Renewable Energy Law, it already cornered 472 RE service contracts that could potentially yield up to 20,000 megawatts of capacity; and could translate to additional 8.0-percent share in the country’s energy supply.
Comparatively, Cusi noted that the targeted RE installations are “higher than our indicative and committed coal plants for the same period which only have potential capacity of 14,500 megawatts.”
Policy-wise, the energy chief stressed that the way forward for the country is to stimulate further investments in RE installations – by concretizing several programs intending to incentivize capital flow in the sector, such as the Green Energy Auction Program that will underpin the implementation of the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS).
The energy department is eyeing to bid out this year the initial 2,000 megawatts of capacity that shall be covered by the RPS policy, or that program mandating distribution utilities to source a prescribed percentage of their supply from RE capacities.
Another strategy being advanced by the DOE is the Green Energy Option Program (GEOP), or that policy which empowers the consumers to directly contract or source their supply from preferred RE suppliers.
Both policies, according to the department, will build up market for RE, hence, ensuring that more investments will be firmed up for the sector starting this year and onwards.
