The Department of Energy (DOE) said that the country is on track to meet its target for the increased renewable energy share in the power generation mix, up to 35% by 2030, and 50% by 2040.
In a report by Business World, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said that the country is “on track as far as these targets in renewable are concerned,” referring to the clean energy scenario of the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP) for 2023 to 2050.
As of 2022, renewable energy accounted for 22.1% of the country’s energy mix, while coal accounted for 59.6%. Natural gas accounted for 16%, while oil-based energy sources accounted for 2.3% of the mix.
Under the 50% RE target, natural gas, coal, and oil should reduce their share in the power mix to 26.6%, 23.1, and 0.1%, respectively, by 2040.
Fuentebella said that the DOE is looking at two scenarios, a clean energy scenario where there is penetration of offshore wind and nuclear power and another scenario where there is higher penetration of offshore wind.
In achieving the goal, the country would need an investment of $153 billion, of which $97 billion would be for renewable energy, including pre-development and construction of power plants.
Meanwhile, investment in the upstream sector in oil and gas exploration and development will amount to $10.05 billion, coal exploration and production at $13.12 billion, and pre-development activities of renewable energy at $510 million.
For the downstream sector, the required investment for oil distribution and import is around $2.94 billion, liquefied natural gas terminals at $1.78 billion, and biofuels production at $2.38 billion.
As for transmission projects, the required investment is around $6.97 billion.
