Philippines: 35 percent RE target extended to 2040

Philippines: 35 percent RE target extended to 2040

FROM an initial target of 2030, the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB)
extended by 10 years the target period of increasing the Philippines'
renewable energy (RE) use to 35 percent, its top official said.

NREB chairman Jose Layug Jr., on the sidelines of the public consultation on
Green Energy Option Program (Geop) at L'Fisher in Bacolod City yesterday,
said they want to have a longer outlook of the industry thus the target RE
share in the country's power mix was extended to 2040.

Layug said the move is a means of showing the public the commitment of the
government to utilize cleaner forms of energy.

"We want to make sure that the target continues to be high at 35 percent or
more," he said.

With its abundant RE sources, Negros has been positioned by the Department
of Energy (DOE) along with various clean energy advocates to become an
entirely "green" island by 2030.

During the Negros Renewable Energy Summit 2017 held in Bacolod last July,
Layug said that a lot of the 35 percent national target will come from
Negros, which has an RE generating capacity of at least 300 megawatts (MW).

The 300 MWs from Negros forms part of the current 6,000 MWs of RE outputs in
the country.

Layug said that aside from abundant solar power, Negros also has other
potential RE resources like hydro and biomass.

"Despite the extension of the of the 35 percent target for the entire
country, Negros is still capable of becoming an entirely renewable island by
2030," he said, reiterating that the efforts of the Provincial Government
and its partner-stakeholders in leading the "green" movement are laudable.

To increase use of "green" energy in the country, the DOE also encouraged
electric cooperatives (ECs) to build their own RE power plants.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), distribution utilities
may put up their own generation facilities provided they will not sell to
themselves more than 50 percent of their demand.

To fund their expenses, ECs may partner with investors or even borrow from
the National Electrification Administration.

Layug said some cooperatives in Negros have already expressed interest to
establish RE generation plants given the island's abundant rivers and vast
land areas suited for hydro and solar, respectively.

"The investment for RE is promising as we are already exiting the era of
feed-in-tariff and entering that of renewable portfolio standards," Layug
said, adding that "RE is cost-efficient than putting plants for diesel and
coal."

The completion of transmission line upgrading of the National Grid
Corporation of the Philippines by 2021 is also seen to invite more RE plants
in the future, he added.

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Link to Original Article:
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/bacolod/local-news/2017/09/05/35-percent-re-target
-extended-2040-562329

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com