The country may soon see a spike in renewable energy (RE) investments following a Department of Justice’s (DOJ) opinion that natural resources including solar, wind, hydro and ocean or tidal energies are not covered by the constitutional limitation on foreign ownership.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, vice chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, noted that the flow of investments on RE is hinged on amending the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act No. 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008.

“The removal of the 40 percent foreign ownership cap is a game changer. This puts the country on the right path of creating an investment climate that would enhance the establishment of more renewable energy facilities amid global efforts to address climate change and ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Sunday, October 9.

The senator also said a wider adoption of RE in the country could progressively bring down electricity rates for the benefit of consumers and at the same time, create more jobs within the communities concerned.

Likewise, he said the absence of foreign ownership limitation on RE facilities augurs well with a recent decision of the Department of Energy (DOE) to increase the percentage of RE utilization for on-grid areas from one percent to 2.52 percent and in line with the DOE’s vision of powering up communities with clean and sustainable energy systems.

The increase to 2.52 percent, Gatchalian said, shall take effect in 2023.

The lawmaker also said increasing RE investments would help the Philippiens lessen its dependence on energy derived from fossil fuel and coal-based power plants.

He also said any increase in the use of RE could also enhance the development of other RE sources that are yet to be harnessed in the country such as the ocean or tidal energy, green hydrogen, and off-shore wind, among others.

“Ang anumang mapagkukunan ng enerhiya sa loob ng bansa ay magiging malaking tulong sa mga consumers at sa ating ekonomiya (Whatever energy resources that can be utilized within the country would be of huge help to consumers and to our economy),” the senator said.

“Ito ay lalong kritikal ngayong nakakaranas tayo ng pabago-bagong presyo ng enerhiya na maaaring makapigil sa paglago ng ating ekonomiya (This is critical especially since we are still experiencing fluctuations in power costs that can hinder our economic growth),”he said.

To date, the DOE has approved a total of 998 RE contracts, generating around P270-billions of investments. Such contracts have an aggregate installed capacity of 5460 megawatts (MW) and a potential capacity of 61,613.81MW.