FROM an initial target of 2030, the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) extended by 10 years the target period of increasing the Philippines’ renewable energy (RE) use to 35 percent, its top official said.
NREB chairman Jose Layug Jr., on the sidelines of the public consultation on Green Energy Option Program (Geop) at L’Fisher in Bacolod City yesterday, said they want to have a longer outlook of the industry thus the target RE share in the country’s power mix was extended to 2040.
Layug said the move is a means of showing the public the commitment of the government to utilize cleaner forms of energy.
“We want to make sure that the target continues to be high at 35 percent or more,” he said.
With its abundant RE sources, Negros has been positioned by the Department of Energy (DOE) along with various clean energy advocates to become an entirely “green” island by 2030.
During the Negros Renewable Energy Summit 2017 held in Bacolod last July, Layug said that a lot of the 35 percent national target will come from Negros, which has an RE generating capacity of at least 300 megawatts (MW).
The 300 MWs from Negros forms part of the current 6,000 MWs of RE outputs in the country.
Layug said that aside from abundant solar power, Negros also has other potential RE resources like hydro and biomass.
“Despite the extension of the of the 35 percent target for the entire country, Negros is still capable of becoming an entirely renewable island by 2030,” he said, reiterating that the efforts of the Provincial Government and its partner-stakeholders in leading the “green” movement are laudable.
To increase use of “green” energy in the country, the DOE also encouraged electric cooperatives (ECs) to build their own RE power plants.
Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), distribution utilities may put up their own generation facilities provided they will not sell to themselves more than 50 percent of their demand.
To fund their expenses, ECs may partner with investors or even borrow from the National Electrification Administration.
Layug said some cooperatives in Negros have already expressed interest to establish RE generation plants given the island’s abundant rivers and vast land areas suited for hydro and solar, respectively.
“The investment for RE is promising as we are already exiting the era of feed-in-tariff and entering that of renewable portfolio standards,” Layug said, adding that “RE is cost-efficient than putting plants for diesel and coal."
The completion of transmission line upgrading of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines by 2021 is also seen to invite more RE plants in the future, he added.
