DOE urged to rethink energy policies

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Think-tank Center for Energy, Ecology and Development (CEED) has called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to rethink its technology-neutral approach to achieve its ambitious renewable energy (RE) goals.

The DOE’s technology neutral policy encourages power firms to pursue all types of resources as the government is not putting a cap on the maximum allowed capacity for any type of technology as long as the country’s overall energy mix will be sustainable and competitively priced.

The National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) earlier called for a review for the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) after RE’s share in the power mix hit a record low of 21 percent last year, a decade after the RE Act was passed into law.

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“When the RE Law was enacted in 2008, the Philippines was lauded for being among the first countries to set a clear vision for a sustainable power sector. Ten years later, it seems that the law’s hopes simply went down the drain…,” said Gerry Arances, CEED executive director.

Arances in a statement said despite the country’s RE potential of 250 gigawatts (GW) excluding solar resources, the DOE has not restricted the development of fossil fuels projects.

He said in the last 10 years, 16 new coal-fired plants were added to the country’s power mix which deepened the country’s dependence on fossil fuels brought about by the delayed implementation of the RE Law and more preference for thermal sources.

“Quite fortunately, climate-vulnerable Philippines is in a position to lead the transition with its abundant renewable sources. The NREB should consider this as it updates the NREP,” Arances stated.

He said DOE’s technology-neutral stance is inconsistent with the RE Law the promotes the development of more renewable energy sources.

“The DOE has yet to significantly comply with the marching orders President Duterte issued a year ago for it to fast-track RE development and decrease dependence on coal. …Their compliance will be reflected in the share of RE in the energy mix and in the price of consumers’ electricity bills,” Arances said.

As of end-2019, the country has a total installed on-grid capacity of 25,531 megawatts (MW), 7, 399 MW of which are from RE sources comprised of hydro, geothermal, wind, biomass and solar.

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