Transmission planning to be included in new Philippine Energy Plan

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) is including transmission planning in the Philippine Energy Plan that is expected to come out in September.

“One of the new things that we do now at the DOE is to include the transmission plan in the Philippine Energy Plan. And that is one way to make sure that we will not have stranded power, especially from renewable energy,” DOE Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said.

Guevara said there is a “mad rush” for renewable energy development to be put up in the country, with over 1,000 renewable energy service contracts totaling 80 gigawatts already awarded by the DOE.

“We know at the department that at this point in time, we already have the investors for renewable energy. What we need to do is we need a whole of government approach to make sure that these renewable energy projects will see the light of day,” Guevara said.

“At the end of the day, even if you have all the renewable energy generators generating, if we don’t have the transmission capacity, then we will have stranded power,” she said.

To support the country’s desire to transition to cleaner sources of power, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla has noted the need for transmission.

“If one takes a look at the Philippine Development Plan of the administration of President Marcos, the emphasis on transmission infrastructure in relation to clean energy is clear,” he said.

Lotilla said the government would facilitate the upgrading and modernization of the transmission and distribution lines to support an efficient transition to cleaner energy.

“The government will also resolve to address transmission congestion, whether by adding transmission lines or avoiding subsidies that cause the build-up of excess capacity,” the energy chief said.

“The tragedy of Negros Island where you have 80 megawatts of stranded power is one that we do not wish to be replicated in the rest of the country and it has been in that state for five to 10 years now,” he said.

The draft of the country’s updated energy roadmap has been completed and is undergoing review.

The Philippine Energy Plan, which currently covers the year 2020 to 2040, is also eyed to be expanded up to 2050.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan 2020 to 2040, the DOE has set a target to increase the renewable energy share in the power generation mix to 35 and 50 percent by 2030 and 2040, respectively.