Solar power proponents said careful planning and conducive policies areneeded to encourage developers to put up projects in unconventional spaces in lieu of traditional farm lands.
This, they said, is if the government wants to achieve its goal for of increasing the share of solar power in the energy mix to 15.9 gigawatts (GW) by 2030.
In a virtual forum organized by the Future Energy Show last week, Tetchi Cruz-Capellan, chief executive officer of Sun Asia Energy, said this scale of capacity would require 16,000 hectares of land, which is the size of a fourth of Metro Manila and will surely displace a lot of agricultural lands.
“Planning is important because 15.9 GW is for solar alone. It has to be planned and as an industry, solar has to look at what is viable on land, on water and rooftop,” Capellan added.
Ruth Yu-Owen, president and chief executive officer of Upgrade Energy Philippines Inc., said available rooftop spaces must be utilized but noted that adjustments to the current net-metering rules must be tweaked in order for it to thrive.
Net-metering is the term for the sale of excess power generated from consumer-owned renewable energy installations to the local distribution grid of electric distribution utilities that can be paid via an offset to the monthly power bill.
A bill that seeks to remove the 100-kilowatt (kw) cap in the installation of power generation facilities under the net metering program is pending in Congress.
Alexander Coo, chief operating officer of Aboitiz Power Corp., said the 15.9 GW national target for solar power must be matched with the country’s resource capacity.
Coo said solar power projects are primarily located in high irradiance areas where sunlight is highly available. These are also constructed in locations that are near transmission lines.
