The Philippines is cementing its two-decade ‘low carbon’ pathway with 34,000 megawatts of renewable energy (RE) installations that shall be integrated into the power mix.
At the virtual Southeast Asian Nations Clean Energy Week, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi declared that the country’s National Renewable Energy Plan (NREP) casts such scale of RE projects to advance ‘low carbon scenario’ for the Philippines.
The energy chief primarily noted that “coal and oil shares will continue to decrease due to the use of alternative fuels for transport.”
In his assessment, the decarbonization strategy of the Philippines would translate “to a power generation mix that shifts from being coal-centered to one where RE, natural gas and other emerging clean energy technologies will have increased shares.”
Under the country’s energy plan, Cusi stipulated that clean energy sources “will improve to reach more than 66-percent of the total generation by 2040.”
Cusi emphasized the Department of Energy is currently prioritizing the issuance of NREP, which will cast 34,000MW of RE ventures coming on stream through year 2040.
This year is considered a milestone for the country’s renewables sector because it is the kick-off period for the implementation of the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), an incentive mechanism for targeted higher RE investments because the distribution utilities (DUs) had been mandated to source certain percentage of their supply from RE capacities.
The recommended RE installations, Cusi specified, had been amalgamated into the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) that the DOE already submitted to Congress. The energy department concluded consultations on the revised energy plan last September.
The updated energy plan will guide investors on which energy resources that the Philippines will be giving prime attention to when it comes to capital flow.
“Under the clean energy or low carbon scenario envisioned by the Philippine government for the future, there will be a slower growth of total primary energy supply (TPES), as a result of the country’s energy efficiency and conservation measures,” Cusi stressed.
The updated PEP, he expounded, shall “increase the production of clean and indigenous sources of energy to meet the economic development of the country.”
In addition, this will “decrease the wasteful utilization of energy through the use of energy efficiency tools and strategies.”
The end-goal of the country, according to the DOE, is to “ensure the balance among the provision of reliable and reasonably-priced energy services, support for economic growth, and protection of the environment.”