The private sector must step up to “fill the gap” in achieving the government’s renewable energy (RE) capacity targets, according to an official of ACEN Corp.
Eric Francia, ACEN president and chief executive officer, told reporters in a recent interview that from the 18 gigawatts (GW) of RE that needs to be constructed by 2030, 13 GW still needs to be pursued by developers.
The Department of Energy (DOE) targets to have 35 percent of RE in the power mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.
ACEN said most incoming capacities are expected to be from solar and wind technologies but projects utilizing geothermal, hydro and biomass will be pursued “albeit on a lesser scale.”
Francia said the DOE’s Green Energy Auction (GEA) programs are aligned with the agency’s RE target capacity but that these must be thoroughly supported by the private sector.
“It (GEA) was a wakeup call to the industry. It was undersubscribed but to me, it’s really a wakeup call for the industry to step up to the plate and fill that gap. The good news is out of the 18 GW, around 5 GW has already been awarded through the first two rounds of GEA so we (as an industry) still need to develop 13 GW,” Francia said.
Currently, ACEN has a diversified portfolio of 4.3 GW in RE, both operational and under construction with 1.6 GW in the Philippines and the rest scattered throughout Australia, Vietnam, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, India, Indonesia and other markets including the United States.
Based on data from the DOE, as of end-2022, the total installed on-grid capacity from RE composed of geothermal, hydro, biomass, solar and wind technologies is at 8.26 GW or 29.24 percent of the 28.26 GW overall installed on-grid capacity in the Philippines, excluding battery storage and diesel-battery hybrid systems. -Jed Macapagal
