Transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) is advancing its plea for regulatory support -- primarily on the removal of caps and for the timely approval of its capital expenditure (capex) program, so it can inject much-needed investments for the massive-scale integration of renewable energy (RE) capacities in the country’s power grids. “Integrating more RE into the grid will require more from the energy sector including significant transmission backbone expansion. This will also require reinforcement in both policy and support infrastructure. Capital expenditure-heavy projects will require regulatory approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission,” the company said. NGCP, however, emphasized that “access to funding was never a problem for NGCP" but  noted that "external limitations, including regulatory caps on capital expenditures, protracted permitting processes by the local government units, and difficult rights-of-way procurement, have proven to be the primary roadblocks to project completion.” It qualified that “if the ERC will allow us to spend the capital expenditures needed to support this laudable push towards green energy, we are very confident that NGCP will be able to deliver.” NGCP added “we hope for the government and regulator’s support in crafting policies and allowing NGCP to have enough capex to fund the required projects to support RE. This move towards a greener and more sustainable grid requires a holistic approach.” The transmission company specified it will be counting on the expertise of its Chinese firm-partner State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) for technical support to underpin the integration of humongous RE integration in the country’s electricity system. “This technological partnership with SGCC gives NGCP an edge in ensuring that the Philippine grid is ready and capable of integrating high levels of variable renewable energy. With its access to SGCC’s technology, NGCP is more than capable to accommodate the increasing integration of renewable energy into the grid for a more sustainable energy mix," the company stated. In the updating of the Transmission Development Plan (TDP), the firm highlighted that it already factored in the RE capacities coming on stream in the new few years - although it has not provided yet the line-up of investments that it will be pursuing on the transmission side of the power supply chain. The company just indicated that “the annual TDP prepared by NGCP and presented to stakeholders in public consultations is aligned with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Program 2020-2040. This targets 50-percent integration of renewables in the grid’s installed capacity by 2040.” Between 2024-2026, the energy department is targeting the delivery of roughly 13,600MW of new RE capacity in the grid, on account of the power supply agreements (PSAs) awarded via the two rounds of green energy auction (GEA) program. That will be on top of the gigawatts-scale of installations that the DOE has been attracting also from various investors in the offshore wind farm development space – of which capacity auction may also be slated soon. Grid integration is a major headache for RE investors, hence, the Marcos administration is already proposing possible public-private partnership (PPP) mode of investments as well as transition financing when it comes to shoring up the capacity of the country’s transmission backbone. NGCP asserted “the entry of more conventional, non-variable generation and energy storage systems to support VRE (variable renewable energy) installations must be planned simultaneously,” emphasizing that “support policies including but not limited to the Philippine Grid Code must be revisited.” The transmission firm similarly noted that “prioritization of the development of Competitive Renewable Energy Zones to synchronize generation and transmission projects must be well coordinated, among others.” Beyond the contentious concern of grid integration, the DOE is also sorting out other policy and infrastructure bottlenecks – including port support facilities for offshore wind.