TRANSFORMING THE ENERGY SECTOR IN THE PHILIPPINES

TRANSFORMING THE ENERGY SECTOR IN THE PHILIPPINES

Philippines program, Enabling Distributed Solar Power in the Philippines,
was preliminarily selected for funding by the NAMA Facility under its 4th
call for proposals. The Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) worked with the
Philippines Department of Energy over the last 2 years to develop this €20
million program that will accelerate the uptake of rooftop solar
photovoltaic (PV) installations by residential, commercial, industrial, and
government facilities under the country's net metering regulations and under
self-supply options. The project also supports the Philippines commitment to
addressing climate change, and is endorsed by the Philippines Climate Change
Commission. Other key partners for the program are the LGU Guarantee
Corporation and the World Bank.

Embedded in the Philippine Energy Plan and guided by the Plan's vision of
providing "Energy Access for More," the program will enable electricity
customers to produce clean, renewable solar power for their own consumption.
When fully funded, the program will establish a technology certification and
PV installer accreditation process to ensure the quality and reliability of
the PV technology installed.

Despite favorable economics in many areas and an overall policy framework to
enable renewable energy, the following barriers have been hindering higher
penetration levels of rooftop solar installations:

Banks and leasing companies have been reluctant to offer reasonably priced,
reasonably termed, standardized, financing products due to perceived market
and technology risks, and the perception that the market is too small.

Distributed energy projects must undergo complicated permitting processes,
which can require multiple permits, all of which increase the soft
installation costs.

The absence of technology certification and installer accreditation programs
leads to higher risks, higher transaction costs, and lower safety and trust
for grid operators, consumers, and lenders.

To achieve its objective of accelerating the uptake of rooftop solar
installations, the NSP will establish:

A comprehensive Technical Assistance Facility to support the development of
solar technology standards and installer accreditations. The Facility will
also help simplify permitting and approval processes for solar installations
and build capacity of local governments and grid operators to process solar
permitting applications.

A Financing Support Fund consisting of a partial credit guarantee fund and a
project preparation facility designed to develop a pipeline of bankable
projects. The partial credit guarantee fund will enable local banks to
provide competitive financing for solar projects and to enter the solar
financing market on large scale.
A National Steering Committee, chaired by the Climate Change Commission, to
provide overall program guidance and feedback.
ph-orphanage-w-solar

The NAMA support project will leverage approximately €75 million in private
sector investments and directly lead to the financing of 50 MW of
distributed solar installations. The project will accelerate development of
the distributed solar market, estimated at over 3,000 MW, and is expected to
lead to 1.8 million tons of CO2e in direct reductions.

Over the next year, the CCAP will continue to work with the Philippine
Department of Energy to develop the detailed design of the program, secure
domestic approvals, prepare the necessary legal instruments and agreements,
and submit the full proposal to the NAMA Facility for final funding
approval.

The NAMA Facility is a multilateral support fund initially established by
the German and UK governments in 2013, and later joined by Denmark and the
European Commission. It supports developing countries and emerging economies
that show leadership in tackling climate change and want to implement
ambitious climate mitigation measures.

CCAP's work over the past 2 years on developing this ambitious program was
made possible by support from Germany's International Climate Initiative
program and Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is third project
developed by CCAP that has secured financing from the NAMA Facility, the
previous ones being the Colombia Transport Oriented Development NAMA and the
Colombia Refrigerator NAMA.

Building off its successful track record in designing and delivering
successful transformational mitigation projects, CCAP is presently
initiating the Climate Project Accelerator. The Accelerator will build clean
energy project pipelines in developing countries, and increase the velocity
of projects moving from conceptualization to implementation. CCAP's
Accelerator will utilize advantages of codification and advancement of
replicable clean energy solutions, deliver in-country access to private and
public investment that advances clean and resilient electricity
applications, and engage the private sector in growing the clean energy
sector that is supportive of further climate ambition.

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Link to Original
Article: http://ccap.org/ccap-solar-nama-in-the-philippines-wins-fina
ncing/

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com