Philippines increasing renewable energy projects

Three million households lack access to electricity.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is ramping up renewable energy initiatives to cope with the current situation in which the Philippines’ electricity rates are the second most expensive in Asia.

Director of the renewable-energy management bureau, Mario Marasigan, said the department has two solar-powered projects in the pipeline and three wind farms and several hydropower plants to reduce Philippine dependence on fossil fuels.

Renewable energy currently accounts for 38% to 39% of the Philippines’ primary energy mix. Geothermal and hydropower plants each supply 14% of renewable power.

Other renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass are still either underrepresented or nonexistent, and offer the largest potential.

Energy rates are among the most expensive in Asia, placing a heavy burden on the 26% of the population that lives below the poverty line. Electric rates in Manila are US$0.23 per kilowatt hour, higher than Tokyo and Singapore, which both stand at US$0.20 per kWh.

A growing demand for energy has accompanied the Philippines’s economic growth, but supply can barely cope with the increasing demand that is projected to grow by 4% annually until 2015.