Renewable Energy Law unable to cut heavy dependence on fuel imports

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines still heavily depends on imported fuel, 10 years after the passage of the Renewable Energy (RE) Law  which pushed for the country’s energy independence through the development of indigenous and sustainable resources, a lawmaker said.

In a symposium hosted by Power 4 People Coalition yesterday, Sen. Loren Legarda said there lacks a clear and strong political commitment to develop and stimulate a healthy market for renewable energy development as detailed under the RE Law.

Enacted in December 2008, the RE Law was designed to help the country achieve energy independence.

The Philippines’ energy self-sufficiency level was at 56.6 percent in 2005, increased to 60 percent in 2010 but declined to 55 percent at present.

From 2005 to 2016, installed capacity of RE increased three percent  to 6,958 MW.

“We miserably failed in meeting our goal of doubling the installed capacity of RE,” Legarda said.

The lawmaker also said the country continued to import coal—importing even more—even as the law aimed to reduce the volume of coal importations.

“The volume of coal importation increased by an annual average of 12.8 percent from 1989 to 2015. Between 2015 and 2016, the volume of coal imports was even higher by 16 percent from 17.3 metric tons to 20 metric tons,” she said.

This as the installed capacities of coal power plants jumped by 87 percent to 7,419 MW in 2016. Meanwhile, another 10,423 MW of coal-fired power plants are in the pipeline.

RE’s share in the power mix  declined from 33.5 percent in 2005 to 32 percent in 2016 while coal surged from 25 percent to 35 percent.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan 2017-2040, the Department of Energy (DOE) has set an objective of increasing the installed capacity of RE to at least 20,000 MW by 2040.

Based on data from the DOE, awarded RE projects have a potential capacity of 16,948 MW while the current capacity of 7,082 MW leave “practically very little, if no room for further RE expansion leading up to 2040,” Legarda said.

 The lawmaker called on DOE to consider integrating instituted policy frameworks into the country’s energy plans. 

“Energy planning should not be done in isolation of policy design and formulation as well as sustainable development planning,” Legarda said.

The country should “eliminate barriers that hinder sustainable development, including policy and energy planning uncertainty,” she said.