The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said over the weekend it expects the Philippine energy industry to soar to more than P7.6 trillion by 2040 from P630 billion in 2023.
“We have around 300 personnel in the commission that are regular or plantilla, augmented by around 200 contractual personnel but all 500 plus five of us commissioners, look after this P630 billion industry,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said in a recent forum.
The ERC oversees 231 generation companies and 600 power plants equivalent to 28,496.815 megawatts (MW), 141 distribution utilities valued at P160.4 billion, one transmission concessionaire with P357.7 billion in total equity, 123 retail electricity suppliers with 4,118.4 MW capacity, 449 participants of the electricity market, among others.
Its mandate is to promote market competition, ensure consumer choice, protect consumer interests, ensure least cost in electricity and penalize abuse of market power.
Dimalanta said if the plans of the Department of Energy (DOE) materialized under the clean energy scenario, “we are looking at a P7.6 trillion industry by 2040.”
The amount includes the P5.8 trillion in investments that will come from renewable energy by 2040.
“So, as they say in the startup world, the blue ocean is the P7.6 trillion opportunity for everyone [in this room but could be more]. This is a bit conservative, but the DOE is still updating these numbers,” Dimalanta said.
She said this would not only come from investments in offshore wind but all technologies.
The DOE set a 35-percent and 50-percent renewable energy share in the power generation mix by 2030 and 2040 under the 2020-2040 clean energy scenario.
Undersecretary Rowena Guevara earlier said the DOE was looking at an additional 52,826 MW of RE capacity by 2040. Of the additional new capacity, solar projects are expected to contribute 27,162 MW, gas at 18,859 MW, wind at 16,650 MW, hydro at 6,150 MW, geothermal at 2,500 MW and biomass at 364 MW.
