Ph needs $121B in RE investments by 2040

The country will need at least $121 billion (around Php58.2 trillion) of investments in renewable energy (RE) until 2040 to achieve the Clean Energy Scenario (CES), according to the Department of Energy (DOE). 

At a conference on Tuesday, Energy Usec. Felix William Fuentebella said the estimated requirements exclude system costs such as reliability cost, transmission and distribution requirements, energy storage solutions, and other ancillary services.

Under the CES, the DOE aims at least 10,000 megawatts of additional capacity in RE by 2040. It also aims to increase the share of RE in the power generation mix to at least 35% by 2030 and over 50% by 2040.

Fuentebella said that other than providing clean energy sources for the country, RE will also help in energizing remote and unserved areas.

To generate more RE investments, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy proposed a bill that would remove the 100-kilowatt limit in the installation of power generation facilities under the net-metering program. 

The proposed bill is seen to encourage more RE investments and will provide support in terms of savings to industries that have the capacity to install power generation facilities.