The Department of Energy (DOE) is making a bold promise to power plant investors that it will be extending utmost help so they can secure warranted permits with the national government agencies (NGAs) as well as with their host-local government units (LGUs) so that the P1.29 trillion worth of energy investments listed by the Board of Investments (BOI) will truly advance to commercial developments.

In a statement to the media, Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla conveyed that “the DOE is committed to work with the private sector and our partner agencies in the national government and local government units (LGUs) to ensure that these approved investments will ripen into beneficial and tangible energy infrastructure for our people.”

Yet while the country’s push for new energy investments leans on clean technologies, the green transition ethos is ironically being tainted by a troubling and dirty reality that bribery has been serving as the ‘shortcut’ way to speed up or bypass regulations on the approval of permits.

Most, if not all, energy project developers are still relentlessly complaining of the “Eddie and Patty” (eh di sya and pati sya) or the ‘for the boys’ mindset of LGUs when it comes to obsecrating ‘grease money’ from project sponsor-firms; and that in turn, is being factored in as a major risk when it comes to investing in the Philippines.

And while the DOE is keen on believing that the surge in energy investments had been due to the government’s sound policies, many of the registered investments with the BOI are still not firmly committed, hence, setbacks such as permitting could still lead developers to a road of perdition or they could still exit when risks would run too high.

Through the years, the national government agencies have been sounding off that they are helpless when it comes to approval processes at the LGU levels because of the ‘devolution of function’ accorded to these government units under the Local Government Code.

Until this time, the DOE is still exploring ways on how it can convince the LGUs on integrating their energy projects’ permitting processes with the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop (EVOSS) platform so that project approvals can be efficiently and systematically streamlined.

As things stand today, the national government agencies are generally seen as ‘easier to manage’, although there are still major policy deliverables that investors have been seeking to be improved on – including those on the issuance of environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) for emerging renewable energy (RE) technologies, primarily floating solar and offshore wind farm installations.

On project financing, Lotilla indicated that  “with banks and financial institutions playing a vital role in our quest for the accelerated development of renewable energy projects, we are working closely with banks and financial institutions, through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), to align the needs of developers with the objectives of financial institutions to effectively support these projects.”

With some milestones achieved, the DOE has so far been credited for advancing policies that made it easier for investors to enter the Philippine energy market – including the Marcos administration’s quick resolve on lifting foreign ownership restrictions to key RE technologies – primarily in the wind and solar development space.

The current energy leadership is also continuing the green energy auction (GEA) program which kicked off in the past administration – a policy which is into incentivizing RE investments with 20-year power supply agreements.

The DOE further vouched that “the government has simplified the application process for renewable energy development and duty-free importation incentives;” while also citing the creation of “new opportunities for new investments within existing contract areas, allowing them to apply for additional renewable energy contracts.”

The DOE expounded that such policy “could lead to extended contract terms and incentives for capacity-increasing investments.”