DOE urged to carry out 20-year renewable energy agenda

ENVIRONMENTAL organizations have called on the country's energy department to carry out its National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) which sets out expressive temporary targets for the delivery of renewable energy within the time frame of 2011 to 2030.

The groups also urged President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to prioritize the development and promotion of renewable energy in the country to ensure efficient and affordable electricity for Filipino consumers.

Composed of Power for the People Coalition (P4P), Protect VIP, and other allied groups called them to intensify renewable energy efforts as part of their energy program outlined in the policy framework enshrined in Republic Act 9513.

The DOE, groups further explained, should increase the country’s renewable energy target to 50 percent by 2030, halt all plans for fossil gas, nuclear, and all types of false solutions, and improve grid development for utility-scale solar and wind, which are abundant, indigenous, and free energy sources.

Based on the energy department’s NREP, the RE is an essential part of the country's low emissions development strategy and is vital to addressing the challenges of climate change, energy security, and access to energy.

“Instead of reducing their reliance on fossil fuels, the DOE is now increasing its use of fossil gas and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas), the department’s new ‘preferred fuel,” said Bianca Montilla from Youth for Climate Hope (Y4CH) in Negros Oriental.

She even said the San Miguel Corporation (SMC) is seeking to build a 300 MW LNG plant.

Montilla added that fossil gas technologies would operate for a minimum number of 25-35 years, effectively stalling the actual development of genuinely renewable energy infrastructures in Negros Occidental and other islands.

“The DOE is now taking the Philippines on a detour away from a real clean energy transition amidst worsening climate impacts,” she said.

The DOE’s expanding fossil gas as it said is no better than coal in terms of affordability, and sustainability, according to Gerry Arances, Executive Director of the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED).

Dubbed as a ‘clean’ alternative to coal, fossil gas and its super-cooled form LNG is being touted as a ‘transition’ fuel amidst calls for a renewable energy shift in recent years due to global climate targets.

Arances said it sets the strategic building blocks that will help the country achieve the goals outlined in the Renewable Energy Act of 2008.

Based on the government’s Renewable Energy Current State and Future Roadmap, Arances disclosed that the NREP signals the country's big leap from fragmented and halting RE initiatives into a focused and sustained drive towards energy security and improved access to clean energy.

He added that based on NREP, meeting the massive targets up to 2020 will be challenging as detailed planning, financing, and building of renewable energy infrastructure will have to be undertaken at a scale, and within a time frame, never done before.

The groups also raised concern over the ecological impacts of SMC’s proposed gas fleet, noting that its project sites are areas host to critical marine and coastal ecosystems.

This includes the Tanon Strait between Cebu and Negros and the Verde Island Passage in Batangas, a marine corridor known as the ‘Center of the Center’ of marine shore fish biodiversity in the world.

Khevin Yu, the Energy Transition campaigner of Greenpeace Philippines, said the current situation only shows how dependent the Philippines is not just on fossil fuels but on fossil fuel imports.

“With no ambitious plans to boost clean and renewable energy in the energy mix, energy insecurity will be a recurring problem that will burden Filipinos and the world, on top of the climate and Covid-19 crises,” he said.

Yu explained that there is much more to be done by the DOE, even though they must realize that they cannot talk their way out of the energy crisis every time global supplies hit a critical level.

“We can alleviate the country's energy struggles while mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis through a swift, massive uptake of renewables,” Yu said.