The 36 green lane-certified projects endorsed by the Board of Investments have hit P1.196 trillion to date, majority of which have been projects under the renewable energy (RE) sector following the government's thrust to invest in greener energy sources.
According to data from the BOI, the RE projects make up 16 out of 23 of the total green lane approved projects in 2023, amounting to P313.73 billion of the total P498.91 billion cost of committed investments registered last year.
Of the remaining seven projects, three are in digital infrastructure, two in manufacturing, and two in food security.
Eight out of 16 of the RE projects are being done by 100-percent Filipino firms, while the others are joint projects of Filipinos with Singaporean, Norwegian, Swiss, or Spanish companies.
The BOI is not slowing down this year since, in a total of 13 projects approved as of Jan. 8 to 19, 12 RE projects have been green lane-certified.
Including the costs in 2023, the whole BOI green lane portfolio has a total project cost of P1.196 trillion to date.
Two RE projects will be fully spearheaded by Dutch-owned firm CI NMF Ph. Corp.
These projects aim to build the necessary and optimized infrastructure for harnessing solar, onshore and offshore wind, and geothermal energies.
The latest of these projects announced by the BOI was the P22.6 billion floating solar project in Pantabangan Lake in Nueva Ecija by Filipino-Spanish firm Fuego Renewable Energy Corp. (FREC).
The build involves a floating solar power plant spanning 500 hectares of Pantabangan Lake, with a capacity of 463.995 megawatts(MWac).
It is set to be commissioned by 2025, and its energy output is planned to be exported to the National Grid.
It is estimated to create 2,000 temporary and permanent direct job placements for Filipinos during the construction, and commissioning phases, as well as the operations, and maintenance of the plant.
FREC said that the Nueva Ecija plant is their fourth project endorsed by green lane. The first three approved projects were the 137.480MWac Ubay Solar Power Plant of Ubay Solar Corporation, 175.287MWac MWac Barotac Viejo Solar Power Project of Magallanes Solar Energy Corporation, and the 59.840MWac Gamu Solar Power Plant of Intramuros Solar Energy Corporation.
The Green Lane policy was implemented through Executive Order No. 18, approved Feb. 24, 2023, in order to expedite the permits and licensing processes for priority or strategic investments in the country.
The endorsements are granted by the One-Stop-Action-Center for Strategic Investments (OSAC-SI) under the BOI.
After review from the OSAC-SI, the Trade Secretary will approve the projects included in the Green Lane list. Once endorsement letters are given to projects, referral letters are forwarded to the Department of Energy (DOE), national government agencies (NGAs), and local government units (LGUs).