The Department of Energy (DOE) is sanguine that geography and reputation will help drive investments in the energy sector, more so now when the Philippines ranked high in the BloombergNEF Climate 2023 report as among the most attractive emerging markets for investments in the power sector.
Mylene Capongcol, DOE assistant secretary, said the Philippines moved up six places and took the number four spot behind India, China and Chile due to significant progress in its transition to renewable energy (RE) the past two years.
In the report released 29 November, the Philippines was cited as one of the few countries that pursued auctions, feed-in-tariffs, net metering schemes, tax incentives and a strong target for renewable energy.
The same report highlighted the DOE’s second green energy auction that resulted in 3.4 gigawatts of renewable energy of which 1.2 gigawatts is set for completion beginning 2024 to 2025 and 2.2 GW for 2026.
The report also cited the release of an offshore wind roadmap and the removal of foreign ownership restrictions that encourages offshore wind investments.
It noted that clean energy investments grew 41 percent from 2021 to 2022 totaling $1.34 billion.
As of end-2022, renewable energy accounted for 29 percent of installed capacity and 22 percent of the gross power generation in the Philippines. The DOE targets the share of renewable energy in the power generation mix of 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.
To boost further the country’s potential in the renewable power investment space, the DOE is preparing to release an updated Philippine Energy Plan.
DOE said the updated plan has crucial elements like the implementation of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and conservation measures, advancing alternative fuels and emerging energy technologies, adopting information and communication technologies through advanced smart grid technologies and fortifying energy infrastructure to be resilient and climate proof, among others.
