PH warned of losing $2.5B in
potential renewable energy investments
By Matikas Santos
INQUIRER.net
3:26 pm | Tuesday, June 25th,
2013
“In 2011, at least 384 renewable
energy service contracts were awaiting approval from the Department of Energy
(DOE), equaling to 6,046MW of generation capacity,” according to the 2013 WWF
report titled “Meeting Renewable Energy Targets: Global lessons from the road
to implementation.”
“While the feed-in tariffs has
been approved, unfortunately, many of these projects are still in limbo pending
the approval of other renewable energy mechanisms…because of administrative
bottlenecks,” it said.
The Philippines passed the Renewable
Energy Act of 2008 five years ago which puts in place mechanisms that will help
the development of the renewable energy sector. Among those, only one, the
feed-in tariff has been passed last July 2012. “The delay has caused
frustration among industry stakeholders, who saw the anticipated development of
renewable energy projects stalled due to lack of clarity in policies or slow
action on these crucial rules,” the report said.
“The delay on policy action has
put thousands of megawatts of potential renewable energy projects at a
standstill and put the country at risk to losing over $2.5 billion in potential
renewable energy investments,” it said.
The report also cited the
country’s high electricity rates saying it has the second highest rates in Asia and the fourth highest in the world “partly
attributed to high costs related to importing fossil fuels.” “While one of the
main strengths of the renewable energy framework is that the policy mechanisms
are legislated under the Renewable Energy Act, 2008, many of the details and
rules pertaining to these mechanisms have been delayed and un-clarified since
the law’s inception,” it said.
“These delays have been caused by
resistance from many stakeholders- governmental, private, and utilities, among
others- which has been the primary challenge in renewable energy development
for the country,” the report said. The report also cited the country’s already
high mix of renewable energy from geothermal, biomass, and hydro energy.
“As far as renewable energy
sources, the Department of Energy reported that 40.6 percent of the primary
energy mix was contributed by renewable energy sources in 2011, primarily
composed of geothermal at 21.7 percent, followed by biomass at 12.4 percent and
hydro at 6 percent,” the report said.
Though the DOE aims to triple the
country’s renewable energy capacity by 2030 there were still many setbacks that
continue to slow the development of the sector. “Delays in policy decisions
have mostly been affected by disagreements within governments and the
opposition of various influential groups, such as Electric cooperatives,
Freedom from Debt Coalition, Foundation for Economic Freedom, Consumers’
Associations and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI),” the report said. “Opposition
is mostly based on the argument that a feed-in tariff, to be called the
FIT-allowance, will result in additional charges, which will be collected from
all electricity consumers,” it added.
The report concluded that the
country needs to engage more with all the stakeholders as well as to improve
coordination in the decision-making and project planning process.
“Primarily, the challenges that
lie ahead in the Philippines for renewable energy deployment and achievement if
its national targets will be to properly mobilize all stakeholders involved in
the sector through engagement and public participation,” the report said.
“Furthermore, coordinating
decision-making and project planning processes, and ensuring the technical and
human capacity exist by involving beneficiaries in the development stages,
operation and maintenance of projects will help strengthen the sector,” it
said. source
No comments:
Post a Comment