Going green is a mantra that is guiding global leaders to rethink their energy strategy.
With severe fires, floods and drought wreaking havoc on the planet, climate change has given urgency to the growing global call for governments and financial institutions to increase investments on renewables as clean sources of energy.
Worldwide, the pressure to go green and move away from coal has gained significant traction.
On the local front, the Department of Energy wants to increase the share of renewables to allow the displacement of carbon-intensive energy sources, thus, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while sustaining the country’s energy supply.
The government has set forth a national commitment to intensify the use of renewable energy resources as a major policy to support its clean energy goals as contained in DOE’s Philippine Energy Plan for 2018 to 2040,
The DOE under the plan encourages private entities to mobilize more investments for the development of renewable resources and technologies.
The DOE updated the National Renewable Energy Program and revised the RE Roadmap containing the targets and deliverables necessary to further advance the expansion of renewables in the energy system.
The draft National Renewable Energy Program 2020-2040 provides an indicative interim capacity targets for each RE technology from 2020 to 2040 to reach the total RE capacity target of more than 30,000 MW by 2040. This is double the original target of 15,304 MW of installed capacity by 2030.
The DOE said NREP foresees an additional 20,000 MW capacity is expected to be integrated into the grid on top of current RE capacity.
NREP forecasts new geothermal capacities of 1,453 MW, in addition to the current output of 1,906 MW, to be installed within the planning period, bringing the total capacity to 3,359 MW by 2040.
Around 13,440 MW in additional capacities from hydropower resources are also expected to be in place by 2040. But the target is dependent on the development and completion of identified hydropower potentials during the period.
Awarded biomass operating contracts (as of December 2017) indicate new capacities totaling 1,305.7 MW are foreseen to be added in the energy system within the planning horizon, while wind capacity is likely to increase by 1,337.7 MW during the planning period.
On the other hand, the capacity target of 11,070 MW for solar is expected from awarded service contracts and committed and indicative projects.
Paradigm shift
The agency said NREP 2020-2040 introduces a paradigm shift on renewables wherein it categorizes RE systems into three main baskets, refocusing toward a consumer-centered use from the previously grid-centered approach.
NREP introduces the Consumer + RE Systems where it encourages the development of RE systems to be utilized by the consumers in the agriculture, fisheries, health and education.
This aims to maximize the integration of battery and other energy storage systems, as well as the use of information and communications technology.
The Consumer + RE Systems + Distribution Utility (DU) basket, meanwhile, aims to promote investments in the Net Metering Program, demand-side participation schemes and distributed energy systems through innovative, technical, and commercial approaches.
Finally, the Consumer + RE Systems + DU + System and Market Operations facilitates and improves compliance to the renewable portfolio standard, Green Energy Auction Program RE Rules, Green Energy Option Program and smart grid policy, among others.
To realize the NREP goals, the DOE intensified the strategies and implementing mechanisms as reflected in the revised RE Roadmap.
The roadmap seeks to provide an inclusive approach to mainstream the targeted 20,000 MW RE capacity by 2040.
The DOE accelerated the enforcement and fast tracking of all policy mechanisms required to fully realize the objectives of the RE Law.
It pushed to streamline existing guidelines and procedures in the awarding and administration of RE service contracts and registration process of RE developers to expedite the implementation of RE projects.
Renewable Energy Zones
The DOE says prospective investments from RE are expected to come from the 25 candidate RE zones with highest concentrations of high-quality wind and solar resources.
The CREZ is a stakeholder-driven planning process chaired by the DOE with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development and technical support from the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
It aims to encourage the transmission upgrades and expansion towards the optimal utilization of the country’s indigenous RE resources.
The 25 selected CREZs across the Philippines have an estimated gross capacity of 152 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar photovoltaics potentials.
The zones also include an estimated 365 megawatts (MW) of geothermal, 375 MW of biomass, and over 650 GW of hydropower capacity distributed across the Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao systems.