Investors told to step up for Philippines energy transition

MANILA, Philippines — With the government playing a supporting role, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla is urging investors to take the wheel and drive the Philippines toward its energy transition goals.

While acknowledging the government’s crucial role in the country’s power industry, Lotilla said the private sector “needs to step up” as well in terms of investments.

“The private sector needs to share the responsibility for progress, or lack of it, in the energy sector. It’s not fair to put it all on the government. If the private sector is a full partner, it needs to take full responsibility,” he said.

According to the BloombergNEF Climatescope 2024 report, the Philippines ranked as the second most attractive emerging hub for renewable energy (RE), closely trailing India.

Given this development, Lotilla emphasized the need for the private sector to capitalize on these opportunities.

“We’ve come a long way since we were 40 percent or more self-reliant on renewable energy. Since we privatized the power sector, our renewable energy contribution has been declining because we largely left it to the market,” he said.

In terms of power generation, the country derives 60 percent of its supply from coal, with renewables only accounting for about 22 percent.

To achieve a balanced energy mix, the government is pushing to scale up the share of renewables to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

“The Philippines was once second in the world for geothermal energy. But after we privatized the geothermal sector, the private sector wasn’t willing to take on the risks of exploration and drilling, which the government had previously handled,” Lotilla said.

As a result, no new geothermal discoveries have been seen, he said.

“Geothermal is advantageous because it provides constant power. We still have about 2,000 megawatts of untapped geothermal potential, though not as much as before. It’s still worth developing,” the secretary said.

As such, the Marcos administration wants to secure a loan from the Asian Development Bank to bankroll its geothermal risk reduction strategy, which aims to help cost-share exploration drilling with qualified developers.

“This doesn’t mean the government is getting back into the energy business in a big way, but it does mean we’ll be creating the right policies to attract investment and make sure those policies are consistently applied,” Lotilla said.

Lotilla is also calling for more private sector investments in the country’s power transmission network to enable the integration of power plants into the grid.

“The National Grid Corp. of the Philippines has a transmission development plan, which we’ll review carefully before approving it. We’ve seen too many delays on important projects, and we need to address these challenges together,” he said.

In a statement, the Makati Business Club (MBC) urged the Marcos administration to issue an executive order allowing a build-operate-transfer scheme for the national grid.

“This would allow third-party investors, whether private sector or government-owned and controlled corporations, to build needed transmission infrastructure and accelerate grid development, both of which are critical to achieving reliable, affordable, renewable energy,” it said.

The MBC is also advocating for more public-private partnerships in off-grid solutions in a bid to achieve 100 percent electrification by 2028.