The Philippines is on track to overtake Vietnam as Southeast Asia’s leading producer of renewable energy by 2030. With several recent government reforms slowly gaining ground in the country, many investors in the RE space have already increased interest and investments in the local RE space.
Currently, the country only has a total of 1,766 MW of installed capacity for combined solar and wind power generation, lagging behind Vietnam which has 12,379 MW. However, the Philippines will have added 17,809 MW for solar and 7,856 MW more capacity for wind before the decade ends for it to lead in green energy production.
The Malampaya gas field, the country’s largest source of natural gas, is set to run out within the next five years, which is the primary driver behind the push toward renewable energy. With this, the government has aggressively launched a number of programs and steps to improve the Philippines’ capacity for renewable energy, with the primary objective of promoting clean power over coal-fired power.
Its key initiative includes the removal of stipulations that require energy assets to be strictly owned by Filipinos. In March 2023, the Department of Energy (DoE) awarded three offshore wind energy contracts in March 2023 to Copenhagen Investment Partners (CIP), a Danish firm that will invest USD 5 billion in offshore wind projects in the country and will be the first foreign company that will have a 100% ownership for its projects; this and other investment pledges demonstrated a growing interest from global firms involved in renewable energy construction. Philippine power producers still rely on coals for nearly 60% of their electricity generation in 2022.”
(Source: Reuters)
