Philippines eyeing P31 trillion clean energy investment by 2040

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is embarking on an ambitious goal of securing up to P31 trillion in renewable energy (RE) investments by 2040 to fuel the country’s clean energy transition.

“To achieve our targets, the country needs a total of P20 trillion to P31 trillion,” Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said at a forum hosted by the Asian Development Bank yesterday.

“When we talk about renewable energy, we are needing a total investment of P20 trillion to P31 trillion,” Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said at an Asian Development Bank forum yesterday.

By 2040, Guevara said the country wants to achieve five percent energy savings, 10 percent electric vehicle penetration and 50 percent RE share in the generation mix.

Based on the demand, the target is to achieve a total capacity of over 52.8 gigawatts of RE, with 27 GW of solar, 16.6 GW of wind, six GW of hydro, 2.5 GW of geothermal and 360 megawatts of biomass.

The official, however, said the Philippines has encountered several challenges in hitting the targets, including financing.

The Department of Energy (DOE) was said to have awarded over 1,300 service contracts totaling 130 GW of RE by 2040, but many of the developers were not able to proceed with the development stage.

While there is a sustainable finance taxonomy, Guevara is still seeing the need to encourage the local banking sector to “engage in renewable energy investments.”

Citing a study by the US-based Rockefeller Foundation, she said local lenders need to be “very liquid” to boost the country’s green energy transition.

Apart from limited access to financing, the country’s RE development is also facing complex permitting processes and grid interconnection issues, she said.

On the government side, Guevara said the DOE has been helping the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) get its right of way and all transmission projects completed on time.

“Currently, our transition system is able to support about 28 GW of generation, but in order to move 52.8 GW of RE by 2040, we have to almost double our transmission system,” she added.

According to Guevara, the NGCP recently energized the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection and the Cebu-Negros-Panay projects and expects to complete the Hermosa-San Jose transmission line by next month.