Philippine Renewable Energy Briefer
Philippine Renewable Energy Briefer
Philippine Renewable Energy Briefer
in the Philippine
In the past years, initiatives have been geared towards increasing generation from geothermal and hydro resources that
has significantly reduced the country's dependency on imported and polluting fuels. In addition, RE sources
such as solar, micro-hydro, wind and biomass resources are seeing wide-scale use in the government's rural
electrification efforts.
With the current soaring of oil prices in the world market, harnessing and utilization of RE is critical in the
government's strategy to provide energy supply for the country.
As an aggressive move to promote RE development and use, the DOE has identified long-term goals, namely, to (i)
increase RE-based capacity by 100 percent by 2013; and (ii) increase non-power contribution of RE to the
energy mix by 10 million barrels of fuel oil equivalent (MMBFOE) in the next ten years. In support of these
general goals, the government aims to (i) be the number one geothermal energy producer in the world; (ii) be the
number one wind energy producer in Southeast Asia; (iii) double hydro capacity by 2013; and (iv) expand
contribution of biomass, solar and ocean by about 131 MW. These goals serve as concrete benchmarks for
government to advance its vision of a sustainable energy system with RE taking a prominent role in the process.
With increased private sector investments as well as the adoption of modern and innovative technologies in
exploration and development, the DOE is targeting the installation of an additional 1,200 MW of geothermal
capacity within the next ten years, resulting to an increase of about 60 percent from the 2002 level of 1,931 MW.
The attainment of this target is being pursued as a strategy to maintain, if not improve, the Philippines' ranking
as the second largest geothermal producer in the world. For the hydro sector, the aim is for up to 2,950 MW of
additional capacity to be installed within the next ten years on top of the 2002 level of 2,518 MW, reaching a
total of 5,468 MW by 2013. Finally, the DOE will push for the installation of up to 548 MW from RE sources
by 2013. Of this total, 417 MW will come from wind-based power while the remaining 131 MW will be
sourced from solar, ocean and biomass.
As of end 2006, the country’s total installed capacity from RE generated 5,261 MW. Hydropower accounted for the
largest share of 61.9 percent followed by geothermal with 37.6 percent and the remaining 0.5 percent was
provided by solar and wind. In addition, wind sites promise a huge contribution to the achievement of the
envisioned double capacity for RE.
With the Signing of the Philippine Renewable Energy Act of 2008 (Republic Act 9513)
the Philippines seeks to achieve 60% self sufficiency in energy by 2010. Besides cutting
back on carbon emissions, it saves the cost of imported oil, and is an important generator of
foreign investments for the country.
The Country’s installed hydropower capacity of 3,289 megawatts will be greatly increased
with the operation of mini-hydropower plants adding 13.5 megawatts to the national grid.
The Biofuels Act which was enacted into law last January 2007 will require the mandatory
blending of coco-biodiesel with petroleum diesel initially at !% by early May 2007,
increasing to 2% within two years.
The Philippines holds the largest potential (76,000 MW) for wind energy among the
Southeast Asian countries.
On Geothermal energy, the Philippines is the second largest producer in the world.
Solar power technology has been instrumental in providing power to agrarian communities
in the countryside. The solar support project, initiated by the Philippine National Oil
Company (PNOC), has been crucial in this regard.
The country has abundant biomass resources with installed capacity expected to reach 161
MW by 2014.
Income tax holiday for 7 years
Net operating loss during the first 3 years from the start of
commercial operation which had not been previously deducted
from gross income shall be carried over as deduction from
gross income for the next 7 consecutive taxable years
immediately following the year of such loss.
At present, biomass technologies utilized in the country vary from the use of bagasse as boiler
fuel for cogeneration, rice/coconut husks dryers for crop drying, biomass gasifiers for
mechanical and electrical applications, fuelwood and agriwastes for oven, kiln, furnace and
cookstoves for cooking and heating purposes. The household sector will remain the largest user
of these energy forms particularly fuelwood.
Renewable energy from biomass is targeted to contribute 120 MW to the overall energy self-
sufficiency target of 60.0 percent in 2010. Initiatives from private sectors provide a good
indication on the potential of biomass energy development in the country. This is evidenced by
the 12-MW Cogeneration Plant of JG Summit Holdings, Inc. in Negros Oriental. The said
cogeneration plant will use the bagasse generated from the sugar milling operations of the
Kabankalan, Negros Occidental and Manjuyod, Negros Oriental sugar mills and refineries of
Universal Robina Corporation, one of the subsidiaries of JG Summit Holdings, Inc.
In the municipalities of San Manuel, Cabatuan and Luna in Isabela province, own-use ricehull
cogeneration plants are expected to provide an additional power generation capacity of 5 MW
by 2008. Proponents of these projects are La Suerte Rice Mill, Family Choice Grains
Processing Center and Golden Season Grains Center.
On the other hand, by-product from sugar cane industry is providing an option for energy
resource in the Central Philippines super region. The Central Azucarera de San Antonio in
Passi, Iloilo has an ongoing pre-commissioning activities on bagasse cogeneration plant with
15-MW capacity. Likewise, the municipality of Talisay in Negros Occidental through its
proponent, the First Farmers Holdings, Inc. is 40.0 percent complete in the construction of the
physical structure of a 30-MW bagasse cogeneration plant. Both cogeneration plants are
planned to serve the energy requirement of the proponents by 2008 and the excess will be
distributed through the grid.
A total of 183.9 MW rice hull and bagasse-fueled co-generations projects distributed over
the super regions are lined up within the planning period. The Bulacan Biomass-to-Energy
Project in Bocaue by the Global Green Power Plc (GGP) shall be expected to generate
additional capacity of 15 MW to the Luzon grid in December 2009. GGP also has three
other biomass projects – the Panay Biomass Power Project (25 MW), Mindoro Biomass
Power Project (10 MW), and the Cagayan de Oro Biomass Project (10 MW) – which are
proposed to be completed in 2010. The Panay and Cagayan de Oro Biomass Projects shall
be connected to the grid. Capacity additions expected from these biomass indicative
projects are: 15 MW in 2009, 57 MW in 2010, 50 MW in 2013 and 61.9 MW in 2014. A
number of these co-generation projects are located in the provinces covered by the North
Luzon Agribusiness Quadrangle and Central Philippines super regions.
For clearer detail Refer to Attached file
For clearer detail Refer to Attached file