(Department of Energy)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte says the government should further streamline the country’s investment rules on clean energy development ventures to keep on track with the Marcos administration’s decarbonization efforts.

Villafuerte said in a statement on Tuesday, July 9, that by easing guidelines, such as the process of obtaining permits at the the local government unit (LGU) level, the administration’s vision of sourcing the country’s energy needs from renewable sources by 2040 would become a reality. 

Citing a report from United Kingdom (UK)-based energy think tank Ember, he noted that the country’s transition from using “climate-warming” fossil fuel to renewable energy (RE) sources “appears to have stalled”.

Ember’s findings bared that the share of coal in electricity generation in the Philippines rose for the 15th consecutive year in 2023.

This accounts for almost 62 percent of all the power generated, which is an uptick from the 59 percent the year prior.

The report also revealed that the Philippines has surpassed China, Poland, and Indonesia to land on the world's list of Top 10 economies most dependent on coal-fired power.

Villafuerte said that this should ignite an “urgency for the government to generate far more investments in RE generation to eventually reverse the current direction in which the steady growth in the electricity requirements of our growing economy is still being met by fossil fuel instead of renewables".
 
“Hence, the need for the further streamlining of our investment rules, especially with regard to the issuance by host-LGUs of business permits to RE investors, with an eye to generating more clean energy,” he added.

By doing this, the government would be able to  raise the combined share of renewables in the national energy mix to meet the DOE (Department of Energy) target of 35 percent by 2030 and a higher 50 percent by 2040, he said. 
 
The congressman emphasized that attracting more investments in RE generation presents the only viable way for the government to start “weaning our country away from dirty fuel” in favor of renewables.

He said the government should focus on developing the likes of wind and solar polar, which are relatively faster and cheaper to deploy.

Villafuerte, a former governor of Camarines Sur, says his province is likely to be the country’s center for wind energy generation with at least 16 projects on this variable renewable energy (VRE) source that are projected to generate over 7,000 megawatts (MW) of clean energy.

He underscored that these projects, once operational, will support the Marcos administration’s decarbonization goal by increasing the share of energy sources in the archipelago.

In addition, the veteran lawmaker said these soon-to-rise wind farms will also stimulate economic activity and tourism in the province, creating several thousand jobs.