The government, through the Department of Energy (DOE), will demarcate the specific functions and responsibilities to be assumed by the national government agencies (NGAs) as well as local government units (LGUs) in hosting and on the permitting processes for offshore wind farm installations; including the integration of the required permits into the energy virtual one-stop shop (EVOSS) platform.

Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla stated that the government will sort out the delineation of roles upon the submission of documents to the DOE by the permitting agencies, as prescribed under the Executive Order No. 21 of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Presidential directive stipulated that “all permitting agencies shall within 60 days from the effectivity of (the) order, submit to the DOE a complete list of appropriate permits required by relevant permitting agencies, including all requirements, fees and procedures.” The EO was issued by Malacanang on April 19 this year.

The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), in particular, was likewise mandated to “submit to the DOE a complete list of appropriate permits required by local government units.”

In fleshing out the warranted authority to be exercised by NGAs and LGUs over offshore wind projects, Lotilla emphasized that the DOE “will not just employ bottom-up approach, but also a top-down approach – for instance, in clarifying the jurisdiction of LGUs over activities in offshore wind – that has to be defined by both parties and not just leaving it to the LGUs to claim jurisdiction.”

To resolve this concern, the energy chief indicated that the crucial first step is “to talk first among all the national agencies, so that the national agencies themselves are clear on what their jurisdictions would be.”

And once that is figured out with the NGAs, comprehensive discussions shall also be carried out with the LGUs, that way, they can be properly apprised of their jurisdiction and role in the development of the offshore wind projects, with the DOE chief assuring that these policy matters will be disentangled within the bounds of applicable laws, rules and regulations as stated in the EO.

“We still have to sort this out with them (LGUs), and we hope that by focusing on the more advanced sites, we and all the agencies together can sort this out,” he reiterated.

Lotilla relayed to global investors in the recently concluded WindEurope 2023 conference in Copenhagen that through EO 21, the Philippines has “adopted a whole of government approach to streamline and expedite the approval process for offshore wind projects,” adding that this will “hasten the rollout of offshore wind projects in the country.”

The EVOSS, which is a web-based system of monitoring and repository of permit-related information on energy projects, has been instituted to “minimize bureaucratic drag and speed up permits for energy projects particularly power generation, transmission, or distribution projects in the country,” he said.

For the DOE, in particular, the energy secretary narrated that the agency was able to reduce its permitting timeframe from 210 to 31 days, “and continues to further streamline processing time.”

Lotilla further noted that EO 21 “directs the DOE to put together the development and issuance of a policy and administrative framework for OSW’s optimal development. Accordingly, once these processes are integrated in the EVOSS platform, the EVOSS law demands completion of the process within the prescribed timeline.” ###