Renewable Energy in the Philippines

Renewable energy is an integral part of the Philippines’ low emissions strategy addressing energy security, access to energy, and climate change concerns. 

Renewable energy investments have already saved the Philippines PHP44.3 billion, according to a Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) report in 2017. Climate change solutions-provider WWF-Philippines said that offsetting the cost of expensive fossil fuels saved each Filipino consumer 5.67 centavos, while generating local jobs and reducing the country’s share of carbon emissions by an impressive 2.8 million tons.

Clean and renewable energy sources like geothermal, run-of-river hydro, solar, wind, biomass, and ocean are among the country’s few competitive advantages – especially since the Philippines has no significant deposits of fossil fuels. Its continued dependence on imported fuel has made Philippine electricity rates among the highest in Southeast Asia.

Relying more on renewable energy has brought down the cost of electricity with fuel diversity, shielding Filipinos from price fluctuations as no fuel cost is incurred, as well as increased energy access with distributed renewable energy reaching off-grid communities.

WWF-Philippines has advocated shifting to renewable energy for years while optimizing energy use. WWF-Philippines has pointed out the adverse effects of fossil fuel use on nature, biodiversity, clean air and health, and the adverse economic impacts of prolonged reliance thereto. WWF’s study on Building Momentum for Low Carbon Development in the Philippines presented a viable roadmap for 100% renewable energy possible since the country hosts a vast potential of renewable energy resources.

Monitoring Renewable Energy Implementation in the Philippines

The MoRE: Monitoring Renewable Energy Implementation in the Philippines Project’s objective is to contribute to the acceleration of renewable energy implementation in the Philippines.  The Philippines aims to reach the renewable energy share of at least 35% of the generation mix by 2030 and more than 50% by 2040 (DOE 2021). The overall goal is for the Philippines to transition to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by accelerating applications of renewable, low-carbon, and no-carbon energy sources to fulfill the country’s energy demands while achieving its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets and aligning with the 1.5°C global temperature goal.

The MoRE Project, in close coordination with government, civil society, and other industry partners, aims to enhance policy processes, particularly addressing gaps in monitoring the status and performance of renewable energy policies.  It seeks to determine the challenges encountered by policymakers in the development and implementation of various renewable energy mechanisms.  The project’s ultimate goal is to come up with a monitoring tool that will aid in the advocacy for increased renewable energy share in the country’s generation mix by enabling an efficient exchange of information between and among relevant government agencies and policymakers.

PH Renewable Energy Tracker

The PH Renewable Energy Tracker has been developed to monitor the implementation of renewable energy in the Philippines, which is necessary for us to know what has been accomplished and to understand what still needs to be done to achieve our goals or even go beyond the target for 2030, which is 35% renewable energy share in the generation mix.

We are improving the PH Renewable Energy Tracker to provide more helpful information for all stakeholders, from decision-makers to communities.

Energy indicator: Yearly GHG emissions in the energy sector in the Philippines. (Source: Climate Watch)

Since 2010, the Philippine energy sector’s GHG emissions have been increasing due to the use of fossil fuels, primarily coal power plants. But the science is clear: we need to cut emissions by half by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050, especially since the Philippines is vulnerable to climate change, owing to its geographic location and archipelagic structure. We can do this by ending our reliance on fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy, which emits little to no GHG emissions (UN n.d.)

Energy indicator: Actual yearly renewable energy share in the Philippines vis-a-vis yearly target up to 2030 based on Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) of 2.52%. (Source: DOE)

This chart compares actual renewable energy share in the Philippines with the country’s target renewable energy share based on an RPS of 2.52%.  RPS is the mandated minimum annual increase in renewable energy generation.  This chart is important for us to see whether the Philippines is on track in achieving its renewable energy targets (35% for 2030 and 50% by 2040).

Energy indicator: Yearly total renewable energy installed capacity broken down into different technologies, such as geothermal, hydro, solar, wind, biomass, and ocean vis-a-vis target capacity up to 2030. (Source: DOE)

Due to its geographic location, the Philippines has vast potential for renewable energy.  This chart shows installed capacity of the different renewable energy technologies in the Philippines vis-a-vis target capacity up to 2030.

Energy indicator: Generation capacity eligible for Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). (Source: DOE)

This chart presents generation capacity eligible for RPS. The RPS is a market-based policy that requires participants to source a portion of their energy from eligible renewable energy facilities. Compliance relies on various mechanisms such as the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP). (DOE 2023) This is important to see whether such a policy has been effective in contributing to the country’s renewable energy capacity targets.

This map shows information about the developers that were awarded contracts to develop renewable energy projects under the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP). GEAP provides an additional market for renewable energy through a competitive electronic bidding of renewable energy capacities. At the first round of GEAP on June 17, 2022, 1,866.13 MW of renewable energy were auctioned off while 3,440.756 MW of renewable energy was committed at the second round of GEAP on July 3, 2023. This map is important to ascertain whether the auctions indeed have an impact on the increase of renewable energy share and to determine ways to improve the GEAP. (Source: DOE)