DOE relies on better transmission planning to sustain RE growth

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) is banking on improved permitting and enhanced transmission planning to ensure the entry and realization of more renewable energy projects in the country.

DOE Undersecretary Rowena Guevara said the agency has been implementing a lot of strategies to not only improve the attractiveness of the country’s renewable energy industry to investors, but also ensure that the renewable energy projects will push through.

“We do have a lot of proponents for renewable energy developments. The most exciting is for offshore wind. So, because of these new developments in new technology, one of the things we see as a game changer is the facilitation of permits,” Guevara said.

As part of the Philippine Energy Plan, Guevara said the DOE is also formulating a smart and green grid plan (SGGP), which is a strategic plan for the country’s transmission system that incorporates accelerated renewable energy development in the grid from 2025 to 2035.

Guevara said the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) would develop the implementation plan of the SGGP in the transmission development plan (TDP) and implement the TDP.

“We have now a team at the DOE that is doing the planning for transmission to make sure that all of these renewables that we are coming up with are actually going to be connected. And we have been working closely with NGCP,” she said.

“We are hopeful all of these projects will be realized on time,” the DOE official said.

The draft Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) 2023 to 2050, which will serve as the blueprint that will chart the country’s energy landscape in the next three decades, adopts two scenarios – the reference scenario and the clean energy scenario.

Under the reference scenario, where present development trends and strategies continue, the share of renewable energy in the generation mix is targeted at 35 percent by 2030, and 50 percent by 2050.

Meanwhile, the clean energy scenario aims to raise the share of renewable energy in the generation mix to 35 percent by 2030, 50 percent by 2040, and more than 50 percent by 2050.

The clean energy scenario includes two options for offshore wind capacity – a clean energy scenario with a 19-gigawatt (GW) capacity by 2050, and a clean energy scenario which has a much higher capacity addition of 50 GW by 2050.

It likewise considers the entry of nuclear energy, in which 1,200 megawatts (MW) of capacity are eyed by 2032, 2,400 MW by 2035, and 4,800 MW by 2050.