PH attractiveness on RE investments climbs notches higher
At A Glance
- In the global energy realm, it is highly expected that RE investments will continue to gain traction as the call headlining at the ongoing COP28 Climate Change Summit in Dubai will be tripling of RE investments to be on track with the 1.5 degrees temperature rise target under the Paris Agreement – and commitments from at least 116 countries had already been cornered on this pathway to global energy transition.
The attractiveness of the Philippines in terms of renewable energy (RE) investments had climbed notches higher, with the Bloomberg NEF Climate Report ranking it as one of the top five globally.
The Philippines had clinched the fourth spot in the Bloomberg NEF report, next to the major markets of India, China and Chile.
The country’s transitioning to renewable energy had been cited as the main catalyst to the renewed allure of the country when it comes to cornering investment-dollars from global clean energy investors.
“The Philippines stands out as one of the few that have implemented auctions, feed-in-tariffs, net metering schemes, tax incentives and with a strong target for renewable energy,” the BloombergNEF report noted.
According to Energy Assistant Secretary Mylene Capongcol, the intensifying interest of investors in the country “were made possible through various synergies and whole-of-government approach in the implementation of energy policies and programs that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has strongly pushed.”
As of end last year, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported that the country’s installed renewable energy capacity accounted for 29%; while gross power generation stood at 22%.
Paramount developments in the RE investment landscape of the Philippines, as emphasized by BloombergNEF, had been the issuance of its offshore wind roadmap as well as the lifting of foreign ownership restriction – primarily for solar and wind farm projects.
It similarly tracked that clean energy investments in the country had escalated 41-percent within 2021-2022 timeframe, and that was ushered in by capital influx of $1.34 billion.
In the global energy realm, it is highly expected that RE investments will continue to gain traction as the call headlining at the ongoing COP28 Climate Change Summit in Dubai will be tripling of RE investments to be on track with the 1.5 degrees temperature rise target under the Paris Agreement – and commitments from at least 116 countries had already been cornered on this pathway to global energy transition.
In the case of the Philippines, the DOE has been aggressively promoting RE investments across technologies – and massive interest is currently shown in the offshore wind development sphere.
In the green energy auction (GEA) administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) this year, it offered 11,600 megawatts of RE capacities to investors, but it was only able to award more than 3,400MW capacity.
For the balance of the unsubscribed capacity, the energy department has been planning for another round of auction that it will be scheduling next year; while also pushing for separate tendering processes for geothermal as well as offshore wind.