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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider Philhydro seeks ways to elevate hydropower investments in the Philippines

Philhydro seeks ways to elevate hydropower investments in the Philippines

Published Nov 18, 2025 02:54 pm
Developer group Philhydro Association Inc. is hoping to address the current bottlenecks that slow down developments in the hydropower industry through a whole-of-government and whole-of-industry effort.
During the 3rd Philippine Hydro Summit and Exhibition, Gertrude V. Roque, president of Philhydro, highlighted the ongoing hurdles that affect hydropower projects as a result of either stalled or delayed developments.
“Reliable power, anchored on hydro, is a critical foundation for economic acceleration and investor confidence. Yet we must acknowledge the very real challenges slowing development: complex permitting, lagging infrastructures, financing limitations, market ambiguities, and the need for genuine lifetime trust-building with communities,” she said on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Roque also underlined a potential de-risking facility for hydro, among other initiatives to help the renewable energy (RE) source gain more traction, similar to what the Department of Energy (DOE) has been working on for geothermal energy sources.
“We understand that the DOE remains committed to creating policy certainty, strengthening EVOSS [energy virtual one-stop shop], and de-risking early-stage development to help fast-track the hydro pipeline.”
In an ambush interview, she said the government should also look into other factors that can help set the proper rates for run-of-river (ROR) hydropower feed-in tariff (FIT) to ensure rate-setting methods are accurate to the project’s operations.
“The reality is that we’re not just producing water or power, but we are also taking care of the watershed and the infrastructure that we contribute to the countryside,” Roque told reporters.
The group cited suggestions such as utilizing the actual average capacity factor (CF) to compute the new rate.
According to Philhydro, actual and historical CFs of operating plants would be able to reflect the current conditions of ROR technologies.
The group is also proposing an extra budget, such as a contingency cost, as ROR projects tend to be exposed to weather cycles, climate change, and other natural disasters.
Apart from an extra contingency fund, they also recommended a three-year construction period for these projects.
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