Greenpeace calls for higher RE target

By Jed Macapagal - April 15, 2021
https://malaya.com.ph/index.php/news_business/greenpeace-calls-for-higher-re-target/

The government must aspire for a higher renewable energy (RE) share in the country’s power mix by 2030, according to environment group Greenpeace.

Greenpeace suggests 50 percent instead of 37 percent as the RE sector’s share is now 35 percent.

“We understand the DOE (Department of Energy) (DOE) is making some steps … we hope that our suggestions of making RE 50 percent of the power mix will become a basis,” said Khevin Yu, Greenpeace campaigner in a virtual press briefing yesterday, referring to the DOE’s recent pronouncement of a moratorium on coal-fired power projects.

Yu also suggested Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the biggest power distributor in the country, must procure only from RE sources in the future to promote the development of cleaner sources.

He said energy companies such as Meralco would benefit from the transition to RE, as this will lower their costs and increase their profit while addressing climate-related harms brought by power sources with high carbon emissions.

Yu said power companies could lessen reliance on inflexible baseload power plants and invest more in hybrid RE plants.

The group also wants power companies to implement straight energy pricing for future contracts where end-users of electricity will not shoulder any pass-on expenses usually brought by fluctuations from fuel prices and currency exchanges.

Greenpeace Philippines also cited the need to rationalize requirements for net metering for customers with their own RE generation systems; pursue of investments in energy storage and smart grids; and include carve-out provisions in supply agreements to allow distributors to purchase less electricity according to changes in demand.

Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said the distribution utility’s current rates have been at their lowest levels in around three years.

“While the Meralco generation charge fell by almost P1 per kilowatt hour (kWh) from 2014 to 2020, the renewable feed-in-tariff rate for solar and wind went up by P1.60 per kWh and P1.36 per kWh, respectively, during the same period,” Zaldarriaga said.

He added Meralco’s power supply procurement process undergoes a competitive selection with a third-party bid and awards committee and is supervised by the DOE.

“Based on the process, the lowest bid is obtained and this is then submitted to the regulator for approval after all requirements have been met. If there will be RE suppliers in the future that will compete and obtain the least cost among all the bidders then they will be able to supply Meralco’s requirements,” he said.

Data from the DOE showed as of end-2020, the country’s total installed on-grid power capacity stood at 25,663 megawatts (MW), 7,599 MW are from RE sources or roughly 30 percent.