BY EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO REPORTER
The Department of Energy (DOE) is egging lenders to provide long-term financing for renewable energy projects to prevent electricity prices from spiking. In his speech before the Energy Investment Forum in Cebu, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said that he has approached and appealed to banks and multilateral lenders to support long-term financing of renewable energy projects.
“I have been talking to multilaterals. I am trying to talk to our friends in the World Bank, the USAID. I would really like to see 20-year money available to energy investments. Why? Because that becomes critical in not only making the projects viable but providing us the buffer zone to rationalize the energy prices,” he said.
Although they are relatively cleaner and more sustainable than conventional power plants, renewable energy projects such as solar, wind, ocean, biomass and wind power tend to cost more for both investors and consumers because of the novel and still developing technologies they employ, limited markets and intermittent power sources.
The passage of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 provided fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, resulting in the approval of 205 renewable energy contracts. Another 382 proposals await the DOE’s nod.
The approved contracts alone are worth over P87.74 billion in potential investments and could generate 4,400 megawatts of clean and indigenous power. This output is more than double the present generating capacity of the Visayas and Mindanao combined, which are both suffering from unstable electricity.
Almendras said that renewable energy projects may lead to a spike in electricity prices because of their significant upfront investments and, as such, future generations would have to share the burden of paying for these costs.
“The idea is to be able to make the necessary investments to come in and encourage the necessary investments without having [to] spike the prices that will cause social unrest,” he said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) is egging lenders to provide long-term financing for renewable energy projects to prevent electricity prices from spiking. In his speech before the Energy Investment Forum in Cebu, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said that he has approached and appealed to banks and multilateral lenders to support long-term financing of renewable energy projects.
“I have been talking to multilaterals. I am trying to talk to our friends in the World Bank, the USAID. I would really like to see 20-year money available to energy investments. Why? Because that becomes critical in not only making the projects viable but providing us the buffer zone to rationalize the energy prices,” he said.
Although they are relatively cleaner and more sustainable than conventional power plants, renewable energy projects such as solar, wind, ocean, biomass and wind power tend to cost more for both investors and consumers because of the novel and still developing technologies they employ, limited markets and intermittent power sources.
The passage of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 provided fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, resulting in the approval of 205 renewable energy contracts. Another 382 proposals await the DOE’s nod.
The approved contracts alone are worth over P87.74 billion in potential investments and could generate 4,400 megawatts of clean and indigenous power. This output is more than double the present generating capacity of the Visayas and Mindanao combined, which are both suffering from unstable electricity.
Almendras said that renewable energy projects may lead to a spike in electricity prices because of their significant upfront investments and, as such, future generations would have to share the burden of paying for these costs.
“The idea is to be able to make the necessary investments to come in and encourage the necessary investments without having [to] spike the prices that will cause social unrest,” he said.
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