WWF pushes quick passage of renewable energy bill

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a global conservation organization, is pushing for the immediate prioritization of the renewable energy bill now being deliberated at the Senate.

"The future of energy is in renewables. Forward-looking countries like China, India, the US and members of the European Union all have strategies and enabling laws that help them tap these clean and inexhaustible sources of energy. This becomes more imperative in the advent of climate change and the volatility of fossil fuel prices in the world market," said Raf Senga, climate and energy policy officer for WWF-Philippines.

Senga said once passed into law, the renewable energy bill will open access to the energy grid for all renewable energy sources such as geothermal, wind, solar and biomass.

The bill, Senga said, would also give priority dispatch for wind power and other intermittents, and requires power generators to source a fixed percentage of power from renewable sources. "The Philippines is well-positioned to ride this wave of the future," he said.

"We have shown this in our highly successful geothermal industry that supplies 22 percent of our electricity, making the country the second biggest geothermal energy producer in the world, next to the US."

Aside from being clean and free of carbon dioxide emissions – the gas widely held accountable for global warming – renewable energy sources can also give a significant boost to the economy.

"Our geothermal industry, which was brought about by the oil shock of the 70s, resulted in lower electricity cost for the Visayas, a region highly dependent on geothermal energy compared to Luzon where majority of power plants are fossil-fuel based," Senga said.

The WWF executive said geothermal energy is just one of the clean sources of energy available for the Philippines.

"We have barely tapped our other renewable energy resources such as wind, biomass, small hydro and solar," he said. " But things are bound to take a turn for the better once the renewable energy bill is passed into law."

He said as shown by the country’s geothermal energy experience that was spurred by an enabling law, the renewable energy bill will pave the way for energy independence by creating a more conducive business and policy environment for the development of sustainable energy options that will be good for the health of the people, the environment and the economy.