The growth of renewable energy in the country is hampered by the long process of obtaining permits for projects among other obstacles, a policy report published by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines.
But the report noted the availability of the Energy Virtual One Stop Shop (EVOSS) system is becoming a “transition enabler” for RE.
EVOSS established a technology and operations management software platform for all government entities to promote a unified permitting system for energy related projects.
“According to the participants of the discussions, the lengthy permitting process has been identified as one of the biggest obstacles to the deployment of renewable energy… Just at the initial stage, the requirement for renewable energy developers to secure numerous permits and signatures can already lengthen the permitting process, especially in view of the manner by which these documents have to go through different bureaus, divisions and agencies,” the WWF Philippines report stated.
“This process is further lengthened and complicated when these bureaus, divisions, and agencies have clarifications regarding the applications of the renewable energy developers,” the report added.
WWF Philippines said another challenge to the growth of RE in the Philippines is the “insufficient promotion” to both the private and public sectors leading to the lack of familiarity with various renewable energy policies.
Participants in the report pointed out there are few incentives that will entice investors to transition to RE especially since the development of facilities is initially not a “cost-effective endeavor.”
The report also cited the need for the development of a “clearer pathway and outlook” in the RE sector to guide prospective investors and to study the inclusion of additional incentives for investments on upcoming technologies.
The report is based on two formal roundtable discussions organized by the group with representatives from government, civil society and organizations in the public and private sectors identified the issue.
The policy report is part of WWF-Philippines’ Monitoring Renewable Energy (MoRE) implementation project in the Philippines that aims to boost the growth of the sector.
“Monitoring renewable energy implementation is necessary for us to know what has been accomplished and to understand what still needs to be done to achieve our goals or even go beyond the target for 2030, which is 35 percent renewable energy share in the generation mix,” said Geraldine Anne Velasco, WWF-Philippines MoRE project manager.
“This report could serve as a guide for stakeholders to the policies promoting renewable energy, which could be useful in making the necessary revisions or adjustments to these policies, if any,” Velasco added.
Angela Ibay, WWF-Philippines head of climate and energy program, said having a stable RE sector will be a great benefit to the country as “it will provide cheaper electricity prices as well as provide a buffer against the volatile global oil supply market.”
According to data from the Department of Energy (DOE), as of end-2022, total installed capacity from RE for both on-grid and off-grid areas in the country is at 8,321 megawatts (MW) equivalent to 28.8 percent of the total 28,932 MW installed capacity for the period.
RE technologies counted by the DOE in its records include geothermal, hydro, biomass, solar and wind.
Battery systems were counted under different sections which the report showed that the country has a total of 96 MW from battery energy storage system and another 49 MW from hybrid diesel-battery system.
