Renewable energy advocates urged government not to falter in its bid to tap renewable energy production in the country.
This as the Board of Investments (BOI) recently told government to hold back on its drive for renewables, which they say not only involves costly technology but would also drive up the cost of doing business in the country.
But advocates say, given its position as one of the world’s leading producers of renewable energy, the Philippines has every reason to mine proven technologies for alternative energy.
They note, however, that companies are being prevented from investing despite the passage of the Renewable Energy Act.
“We need to do it because we don’t have fossil fuel resources, we have very limited coal, limited natural gas,” says Pete Maniego, National Chairman of the Renewable Energy Board (NREB) on ANC’s “Headstart.”
“We’ve had hydro for a very long time, geothermal has been with us four decades ago, wind has been there decades also, solar more than 20 years, biomass has been there since time immemorial. These are not exotic technologies, these are proven technologies.”
At one point, Maniego says, the country had even sourced 34% of its energy requirement from renewables.
Compared to oil, Maniego says, renewable energy also translates to cheaper energy.
“We computed that for every $10 increase in coal prices the increase per kilowatt hour would be about 21 centavos. Historically, coal prices have increased around 30% in the past 5 years,” says Maniego.
“The rate for renewables is fixed for 20 years. While coal may increase, bunker fuel may increase, the rate for renewable energy will remain the same,” says Poch Ambrosio, corporate secretary of the Wind Energy Development Association of the Philippines (WEDAP).
“Assuming all capacities for wind, solar, hydro, biomass are in place, it’s about 10 to 12 centavos additional for each consumer,” he adds.
“In the long term, renewable energy will reduce the cost by P116 billion over the 20-year feed-in period,” Maniego notes.
The feed-in is a fixed rate to be given to the company for every kilowatt hour it produces, and adjusted only with inflation.
Public hearings and consultations are underway on a petition filed by the NREB on May 16.
Advocates also say Ilocos Norte’s experience with wind energy is proof of the benefits from tapping renewables.
“We bring rural development in areas for traditional generation. During high wind season, when the wind farm is full blast, we’re generating half of the power requirement for the entire province of Ilocos Norte. In the case of Bangui, because of the real estate taxes we pay the municipality. Bangui has increased from a fifth class municipality to a third class municipality in a single year, it’s even generated its own cottage industry,” Ambrosio says.
He notes that 20 wind turbines currently produce 1.56 megawatts for a total of 33 megawatts.
“Sepalco has a solar plant in Cagayan de Oro blended with hydro power plant. They conserve power, use solar during the day, hydro at night,” Ambrosio adds, noting wind and solar have to exist with the baseload plant, which produces electricity on demand, ideally only when energy is needed most.
Such successes, they say, point to the country’s potential to be self-sufficient in energy.
Today, Maniego says, despite the high cost of pursuing solar energy, prospects are bright for renewable energy in the country.
“Based on our latest computation, coal is P8/kilowatt hour whereas our proposed unit price for hydro is only P6 per kilowatt hour, biomass P7, wind P10.
“Most of these projects will be on line in three years time, so even wind will be competitive with coal, considering the unit price range increases at 10% per annum so it will be more than P10.50 per kilowatt hour in three years time.”
