The Philippines attracted P256.6-billion worth of renewable energy investments to generate a total capacity of 2,630.55 megawatts from 2009 to 2021, according to the Department of Energy.
Mylene Capongcol, director of the DOE Renewable Energy Management Bureau, said the additional capacity created 184,055 green jobs and reduced 25.73 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Capongcol said on the second day of a virtual conference organized by the Meralco Power Academy that such investments could have been higher if not for the delays in the implementation of some RE policies.
“Yes, in fact in the earlier National Renewable Energy Program, we fell behind. We were short of the target, so that’s why we are now doing a review… One of the challenges, of course, is the delay we experienced in the implementation of all the RE policy and developments and mechanism for RE, and it’s only in the later years that we had a rollout of these policies,” Capongol said.
Capongcol expressed optimism there would be more investors going into RE following the issuance of policies in place, such as the Green Energy Auction Program, Renewable Energy Market, Renewable Portfolio Standards and others.
She said the DOE, with the support from the World Bank Group and funding from WBG’s Energy Sector Management Program, is crafting the Philippine Offshore Wind Roadmap set to be launched this month.
The DOE also plans to develop the Philippine Marine Energy Roadmap, she said.
The DOE and the Manila-based policy group Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities said renewable energy sources—through flexible, distributed generation—best suit the power generation needs of the Philippines.
“Renewable energy can definitely compete with coal. In the renewable space, you only pay for the cost of developing, and naturally, the supply is available for use. This is why the DOE is looking for strategies to buy down the cost of RE in the country, not just in the investment side but also for the consumers,” said Capongcol.
“We need a modern grid that is able to adjust and support diverse, distributed generation,” ICSC energy transition advisor Alberto Dalusung III said.
Capongcol said the DOE was targeting to have a 35-percent share of RE by 2030, and over 50 percent share by 2040.
The agency is undertaking an impact study under CASE, where they are working with ICSC to develop a policy that declares all RE power plants as preferential dispatch units in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.