PH could become top RE producer

December 4, 2015 9:39 pm  by RITCHIE A. HORARIO

http://www.manilatimes.net/ph-could-become-top-re-producer/232761/

THE Department of Energy (DOE) is targeting to make the Philippines the world’s number one renewable energy producer in the coming years.

Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos said there are various RE projects that are in the pipeline that would help realize this goal.

He said these include an additional 1,495 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy and 5,400 MW of hydro power.

The country is also vying to be the number one wind energy producer in Southeast Asia with up to 2,500 MW in capacity, he said.

Power from biomass is expected to increase by 265 MW, solar by at least 280 MW and ocean energy by at least 10 MW, the DOE official said.

“We urge more private investments in the energy sector and the timely installation of the committed projects,” Marcos said during the Energy Investment Forum in Makati City.

Marcos said there is a huge opportunity for the development of RE resources in the country, citing the existence of the RE law including the various mechanisms such as the feed-in tariff and net metering schemes as incentives.

To date, Marcos said at least 616 RE projects have been awarded with a potential capacity of 12,138 MW and installed capacity of 2,950 MW.

He also noted that the Luzon and Visayas grids need more capacity.

“For the Mindanao grid, we need to have a balanced energy mix and crucial is the installation of the transmission network,” he added.

The country has a total installed capacity of 18,445 MW with a dependable capacity of 15,838 MW.

To date, 34 percent of the installed power plants in the country are provided by coal. It is followed by oil at 17 percent, hydro at 19 percent, natural gas at 17 percent, geothermal at 10 percent, wind at 1 percent, biomass at 0.7 percent and solar at 0.47 percent.

Marcos said the Luzon and Visayas grids are interconnected thru high voltage direct current transmission lines, while Mindanao’s transmission network and interconnection to the other grids are currently under study by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines and expected to be in place by 2020.