More lending pushed for RE investments

MANILA, Philippines — Manila-based climate and energy policy group Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) has called on the government and banks to provide more lending opportunities for renewable energy investments in the country.

The total energy investment requirements indicated in the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) for the next 20 years are estimated at $153 billion.

Of the total investment requirements, $94.3 billion is needed for renewable energy alone.

“The people here prove that they can provide renewable energy in our country. What they require, though, is for other parts of government to work as well. The banks and department of finance should stop the pawnshop mentality and step up to provide more lending opportunities for RE investments,” ICSC executive director Renato Redentor Constantino said.

Constantino said while net zero is a really important global goal, the country also needs to prioritize the needs of its people.

“By paying more attention to resilience and working-class needs, we gain the support of the public. Because what they need is affordable, reliable power,” he said.

“If we want a more resilient power sector, then we will need more flexible distributed generation, which means more RE,” Constantino said.

ICSC senior policy advisor Pedro Maniego Jr. said that in missionary areas, there is no choice but to go with solar and other forms of renewables since the cost of electricity in these areas are high as they are being served by diesel generators.

“I hope that as we continue to advance RE technologies, all grid and missionary communities will have access to power 24/7. More jobs will also be created by using renewables. We cannot leave anybody behind,” Maniego said.

ICSC chief data scientist Jephraim Manansala, for his part, said data science and digitization of the energy system is important in achieving net zero.

Manansala said this is already being done in the Philippines, citing the report of CASE Philippines entitled “Towards an Affordable and Reliable Grid with Energy Transition,” where data from the Wholesale Spot Electricity Market was used to assess the performance of existing coal and variable renewable energy plants from 2017 to 2021.

“Data and digitalization are essential to accelerate the energy transition through informed policies, accurate forecasting and planning, smarter system operations and other applications,” Manansala said.

“However, data and digitalization alone will not necessarily lead to CO2 emission reduction. It is just the enabler for the technologies and initiatives that drive down CO2 emissions,” he said.