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Presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos has been using vlogs to reach as wide an audience as possible ahead of the May 9, 2022 elections. With now over 200 of these vlogs posted on his YouTube channel, a scouring of noteworthy snippets in these videos is in order.

A new private sector-led global organization is exploring a possible country partnership with the Philippines to assist in hastening its transition to green and renewable energy (RE) sources, the Department of Finance (DOF) said.

 The Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), which regulates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), is seeking approval for an additional spot market transaction fees to be slapped to participants of the Renewable Energy Market (REM) to support operational expenses.

Conventional wisdom often paints the power sector as a “game for the big boys” – but in the country’s lofty ‘energy transition’ goal, even the “David-like players” are leading the way.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has laid down a policy allowing “one-year banking” of credits that an end-user may claim under the net metering program in the renewable energy (RE) sector.

At least three bidders have been disqualified in the ongoing competitive selection process (CSP) of power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) for power supply agreements (PSAs) that will satiate 1,800 megawatts of its future power supply portfolio.

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) is still firming up the pricing formula for the targeted ‘tariff ceiling’ that shall be instituted for the 2,000 megawatts of renewable energy (RE) capacity auction targeted by mid-June this year.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is reinvigorating the investment landscape so it can entice massive capital flow for P10 trillion worth of energy projects that had been cast under the updated Philippine Energy Plan (PEP).

The Department of Energy (DOE) has forthrightly stated that it has not given any approval yet to the proposal of the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) to hike renewable energy (RE) installations to annual increment of 2.0 to 2.2-percent from what is presently cast at 1.0-percent increment.          

The country’s renewable energy (RE) developers are eyeing to rake in next year P35.693 billion worth of feed-in-tariff (FIT) payments, a form of subsidy collected from all Filipino electricity ratepayers.         

           The shift of state-run National Power Corporation (NPC) to renewable energy (RE) technologies in powering the off-grid areas could yield savings of up to P13.5 billion annually with consumers enjoy cheaper electricity cost.

While renewable energy (RE) developers are brandishing that their technologies are already the cheapest in the market, the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) ironically dropped the bomb that the programmed RE projects in the country will increase the power bills of Filipino consumers by P0.23 per kilowatt hour.           

With the Department of Energy’s (DOE) moratorium on coal-fired power projects, there’s no doubt that the Philippine energy sector will be in for dramatic shifts and existential twists – not just in technology deployments but in the overall goal of greening the power mix.

The Philippines is cementing its two-decade ‘low carbon’ pathway with 34,000 megawatts of renewable energy (RE) installations that shall be integrated into the power mix.

The energy investment arm of the Ayala Group will be raising additional US$500 million to US$600 million from its targeted cash-raising activities next year, so it can cover the bulk of equity that it will need to inject on its targeted renewable energy (RE) projects in the Philippines and overseas.

The Philippine government has opened full foreign ownership in the geothermal segment of the energy industry, but under the condition that investments must be done in integrated steam resource development and power projects.

The gnawing coronavirus pandemic we’re wrestling with puts in view the fragility of any country – the crisis stirred up extreme socio-economic conundrum that will push not just government leaders but also the citizens to re-think policies and life choices moving forward.