[intense_lead]MANILA - Sustainable energy firm Winnergy Holdings Corp  said it has inaugurated its pilot floating solar power farm in Baras, Rizal, intended to supply the town with free and clean energy. [/intense_lead]

The 10kWp project, designed to last for 25 years, utilizes solar panels on top of water to generate enough energy to power the Kasarinlan Park in Baras, Winnergy President Janina Bonoan told ABS-CBN News. 

A connecting station was also built allowing residents to use the power generated for charging gadgets, powering sound systems and lighting up the river, she said.

“The purpose of undertaking the pilot is to demonstrate the technical feasibility of floating solar technology in the country and, more specifically, on Laguna Lake, Bonoan said. “The pilot also forms part and paves the way for the development of a much larger and commercially-viable project, also being developed by Winnergy,” she added.

Compared to traditional solar power facilities, floating farms are “technically more efficient” since no agricultural forest lands are disrupted.

It also reduces water evaporation and the proliferation of algae so marine life can flourish, Bonoan said, adding that the surrounding water makes the panels produce more energy. 

As an archipelago with inland and offshore bodies of water, the Philippines has a huge potential for floating solar farms, she said. 

Bonoan said this technology could also make use of lakes created by abandoned open-pit mining by deploying solar panels on top of it.

Meanwhile, conglomerates such as the Aboitiz Group, Ayala Group and San Miguel Corp also have interests in renewables. 

Philippine facilities occupy 10 slots in Southeast Asia’s top 25 operational solar power plants, and electricity produced from this technology is expected to triple in four years, according to Dutch firm Solarplaza.

The Rotterdam-based consultancy said in a report that grid-connected solar power capacity in the Philippines was expected to more than triple from 903 megawatts currently to 3 gigawatts by 2022.

Rivaling the Philippines is Thailand with 15 solar facilities in the list. The remaining two are located in Malaysia and Cambodia.

No. 1 in Solarplaza’s list is 132.5-MW Cadiz solar power plant in Negros Occidental. Owned by the Equis Fund Group, this went online in 2016 and is the biggest in Southeast Asia.

Other Philippine solar plants listed by Solarplaza are the 80-MW San Carlos Solar Energy plant (ranked 8th); 63-MW Solar Philippines plant in Calatagan, Batangas (9th) ; 59-MW Toledo project of Citicore Power in Cebu (10th), and 59-MW San Carlos Sun Power plant in Negros Occidental (11th).

There are also the 50-MW plant of Sulu Electric Power and Light in Leyte (12th); 50-MW plant of Syntegra Solar and Conergy in Tarlac (13th); 45-MW plant of San Carlos Solar Energy in San Carlos City (14th); 40-MW plant of Majestics energy Corp. and Mother Co. in Cavite (16th); and 22-MW plant of Mabalacat Solar Philippines in Pampanga.

“The Philippines has enjoyed large growth in PV (photovoltaic) installations in the past few years, with more than 881 MW of newly added capacity installed since 2014,” Solarplaza said.

“This was mainly the result of the introduction of the country’s initial feed-in-tariff (FiT) of $0.23 per kilowatt-hour in 2014 and its subsequent revision to $0.17 per kWh in 2017,” the group added.

In an earlier report, Solarplaza put the Philippines at No. 5 among developing countries in Asia in terms of the use of solar photovoltaic systems for electricity generation.

The Philippines are working on Renewable Portfolio Standards that would require distribution utilities to source a portion of their power supply from eligible renewable-energy (RE) sources, such as geothermal.

As reported from Manila, the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) of the Philippines has endorsed proposed rules on renewable portfolio standards (RPS) to the Department of Energy (DOE) of the country. The Portfolio Standards would require distribution utilities (DUs) to source a portion of their power supply from eligible renewable-energy (RE) sources, as reported by the Business Mirror.

“This week I will endorse it already to the secretary. Hopefully, it will be then be signed the following week to start the ball rolling,” NREB Chairman Jose M. Layug Jr. said in an interview during an RE forum organized by the Dutch Embassy last week.

RPS is intended to contribute to the growth of the RE industry. If implemented, this will help the agency attain its goal of maintaining the RE share in the national energy mix to at least 35 percent by 2030.

Barring unforeseen events, Layug expects the implementation of the RPS policy starting next year. “Hopefully, it will start to take effect by January 2018. RPS will definitely address issues on cost”.

The scope of proposed RPS rules include the following: types of RE sources; yearly minimum RPS requirement; annual minimum incremental percentage of electricity sold by each mandated participant, which is required to be sourced from eligible RE resources and which shall, in no case, be less than 1 percent of its annual energy demand over the next 10 years; and means of compliance by the mandated participant set by the government to meet the RPS requirements.

The following entities would be mandated to participate in the program:

DUs, licensed retail electricity supplier, directly connected customers (DCCs), supplier of last resort, entities authorized as distributors within the economic zones, and generating companies only to the extent of their actual supply to their DCCs.

The minimum annual RPS requirements will now be determined per mandated participants. A group with representatives from the NREB, Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, Renewable Energy Management Bureau, Legal Services and Energy Policy and Planning Bureau will determine details of the RPS requirements.

The minimum annual increment in the RPS level shall be initially set at 2.15 percent to be applied to the actual total supply portfolio of the mandated participant in each grid for the previous year, the draft circular stated.

RE sources include biomass, waste to energy technology, wind, solar, run-of-river, impounding hydropower sources that meet internationally accepted standards, ocean, hybrid systems, geothermal and other RE technologies that may be later identified by the DOE.

The NREB is the advisory body tasked with the effective implementation of RE projects in the Philippines.

Source: Business Mirror

[intense_dropcap]B[/intense_dropcap]ANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Philippines can save $200 million a year and build a more reliable energy supply for millions of residents on its small islands by replacing diesel generators with renewable sources such as wind and solar, said a report released on Monday.

The switch would require at least $1 billion in private investment in the short term, but the sum would be offset by savings of $200 million each year - an expense currently borne by users, the report said.

Many of the archipelago nation's small islands cannot access larger electricity grids.

Mini-grids powered by generators that use imported diesel and oil serve approximately 800,000 households, but there are frequent blackouts, said the report by the U.S.-based Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and Manila-based Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC).

Less than 10 percent of 233 small islands have 24-hour electricity, while more than 70 percent have less than eight hours of electricity per day, according to the ICSC.

Modernizing small island power systems with renewables will supply cheaper, efficient, secure, cleaner power, the report said.

[intense_blockquote]"Renewable energy systems are not only sustainable but affordable and secure because there is no fuel requirements," Sarah Ahmed, IEEFA's energy finance analyst and the report's main author, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.[/intense_blockquote]

Since 2009, solar power costs have fallen by 90 percent and that of wind power has fallen 50 percent, the report said.

Yet many small islands in the Philippines have not turned to renewables due to a host of factors including outdated regulations, it said.

This includes a lack of incentives for island electric cooperatives - small, customer-owned utilities controlled by locally elected boards - to procure cheaper sources, and slow implementation of a 2008 law meant to promote the development of renewable energy, it added.

[intense_dropcap]I[/intense_dropcap]n recent years, the Philippines has taken the top spot in South East Asia as far as Renewable Energy (RE) development is concerned. This was a well-planned initiative that was accomplished primarily by enticing energy technology experts and institutional investors to lead the charge in developing this sector. To support this, the government passed legislation and adopted what is called the Feed-In Tariff (FIT) system, in order to lessen the business risk of investors.

Under the FIT, a minute percentage of what you are charged on your electric bill – 0.54%, to be exact – is allocated to help fund RE growth. Indeed, it is a wonderful way for people to contribute a small part to help Mother Earth and leave something positive for future generations. This is a shared responsibility, after all.

Given this, I must reiterate how very commendable it is that our country is taking the necessary measures in trying to preserve our planet. Fossil fuels can have terrible effects on the environment, and RE is definitely a step in the right direction. Clean energy sources such as solar power, hydroelectric, geothermal, etc. are all more sustainable in the long run. They provide us more energy security since it would mean that we won’t have to import fuel from other countries, and we would have our own plants and RE centers in the country. It’s also good for the economy: based on a report done by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) entitled “RE Thinking Energy,” the costs for renewable energy have been decreasing considerably in the past years, and can most likely lower the cost of electricity at the consumer level.

I mentioned that fact in passing in the previous column, but let’s now take a look at some quantifiable figures. According to a 2016 study conducted by the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), market prices were reduced nearly 50 percent with the inclusion of FIT-eligible plants in the market. The PEMC analyzed the financial impact of FIT in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s power spot market, in the span of approximately one year. Moreover, it took into consideration that FIT-eligible RE plants are placed in the market under a “merit order” basis, which means its generating capacity is a priority in dispatch to the grid. The study concluded that the integration of the FIT-eligible RE plants in the market resulted in a cost reduction of P4.04 billion, or P0.0567 per kwh, in the case study span of 11 months.

Ultimately, when our supply of RE increases substantially, supply-and-demand forces will further drive energy prices down. However, this can only be achieved when the FIT and its implementing rules and regulations are properly implemented and fulfilled. I maintain my previously stated position that the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) should fulfill all its contractual obligations with the FIT-qualified resources, mainly in disbursing FIT Allowances.

Regie Casas and JJ Soriano from the Confederation of Solar Power Developers of the Philippines (CSDP), for example, reiterated a growing RE industry concern that investors have received the short end of stick even after making substantial contributions to the nation. At present, after more than a year after the deadline of their completion, repeated appeals for the government to honor its FIT and FIT Allowance commitments have fallen on deaf ears. So what do you think large-scale investors do when they find out that a country has a tendency to break its promises? They go to other countries, of course. This is a crying shame, because these companies and individuals believed in the Philippines and its potential, only to be left holding a (so far) empty bag.

As they say, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, especially when it comes to something as delicate and vital as the protection of our environment. We must continue to do our part – whether it be on a macro or micro scale – in order to contribute to our planet’s well-being. As a nation, we are positioned to take a giant step with our renewable energy sector, for our country, for our world, and for our future generations. Whether that step is backwards or forwards, that is now up to us. 

Source: Domini M. Torrevillas (The Philippine Star)