Foreign energy specialists back feed-in tariff for Phl RE projects

SINGAPORE – Foreign energy specialists have expressed support for the implementation of a feed-in tariff scheme for renewable energy projects in the Philippines. 

Aiming Zhou, energy specialist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said the feed-in tariff scheme would help attract more investors to develop renewable energy projects in the country.

Under the FIT system, renewable energy developers are assured of future cash flow as electricity end-users will be charged fixed amounts to cover the production of energy from renewable sources. 

The system is expected to encourage investors to go into renewable energy development and production as it ensures stable pricing. 

“The Philippine government is planning to roll out feed-in tariff policy and this feed-in tariff policy is also supported by ADB,” Zhou told The STAR on the sidelines of the recently concluded Clean Energy Expo Asia 2011 here. 

“ADB would be happy to help the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) or DOE (Department of Energy) to design the appropriate rate for each type of renewable energy,” he said.

“The Philippine government should create strong incentive or strong message so we can have more pipeline project development, without any good pipeline project ADB cannot help,” Zhou added. 

He said the ADB, a multilateral lending agency based in Manila, is shifting its operation from public sector to private sector operation in the next five years.

 “The private sector is the most important financing source in renewable energy development,” he said. 

Christoph Menke, a professor at the Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok, also favored the feed-in tariff scheme for renewable energy projects in the Philippines. 

“For whatever reason some groups are misusing now this all feed-in law to say that this would raise the electricity tariffs even higher, I think this is not fair, this is not correct,” Menke told The STAR in a separate interview. 

He said it is time for the Philippine government to get the people involved in renewable energy development. 

“Germany now has 20 percent from wind, it doesn’t come overnight it took them 20 years trying and working. Thailand as well they have already 10 years of experience in it, it will take time,” said Menke. 

“I consider it as investment. Of course you can wait a little bit there is always learning. What is the consequence is if you’re not doing it the dependency on imported oil will be even higher,” he said.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo had said he is against the FIT because this will result in the trade-off of higher gas prices for millions of Filipinos. 

Domingo said only a few will benefit from the FIT since the industry is only able to produce five percent of the total market requirement. He also questioned the logic behind protecting producers that only have a small capacity and are unable to meet the requirements of the consumers.