Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said Monday the country should avoid an oversupply of renewable energy similar to what Vietnam experienced that resulted in stranded generation capacity.
“We are making sure that transmission facilities will be there and will not create another Negros Island scenario wherein available RE power has been stranded in the island for the lack of sufficient transmission facilities that can bring them to the market,” Lotilla said during Monday’s Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines Infrastructure Forum.
Lotilla said the challenge for the Department of Energy is to update the RE plans, including the backup power needed.
“We are focusing on this. This problem is not unique to Negros. In Vietnam, they had also problems of overcapacity from the RE sector and could not be brought to the market or places where they are needed,” Lotilla said.
“In fact, what they had to do was pay RE producers in order not to run. We don’t want that kind of scenario taking place in the country,” he said.
The DOE initiated several policy announcements that would benefit the RE sector in support of the Marcos administration’s energy plan.
The agency prepares the amendments to Rule 6, Section 19 of the implementing rules and regulations of the RE Law that would lift the 40-percent restriction on foreign ownership.
It also increased the percentage of the utilization of RE for on-grid areas to 2.5 percent from 1 percent.
The DOE announced that qualified and registered renewable energy generating units could now enjoy preferential dispatch in the electricity market. The policy issuances are seen to drive investments in the RE sector.
“Private sector investments are central to achieving our renewable energy targets and vision for the Filipino people, and this is a welcome development for our foreign investors to invest in renewable energy production here in our country,” Lotilla said earlier.