PH Renewable Energy Act: Incentivizing Solar Energy Use for Filipinos

Metro Manila, Philippines - The Philippines has recognized the impact of its dependence on dirty sources of electricity and its price fluctuations. Being situated near the equator with up to 12 hours of sunlight per day, it makes sense to get a hold of these advantages for the benefit of the Filipino people. This is why the Renewable Energy Act (RE Act), a pioneering legislation as the first renewable energy law in Southeast Asia, was passed back in December of 2008.

We are very lucky to be one of the few Asian countries that have a law for incentivizing the use of renewable energy. But with the country’s increasing energy demand and the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) stating that the renewable energy share in the country hit a new low of 21% in 2019 (it was 35% of the total power mix when the law was enacted), what exactly are the goals of the RE Act?

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Accelerate Exploration and Development of Renewable Energy Sources

Lessening dependence on dirty energy sources helps the country minimize the impact of oil price fluctuation in the global market. With the decrease to 21% energy share, NREB recommends 20,000 MW of renewable energy, (of which 15,000 MW is solar) be built within the next decade to get back to 35%. Solar now has the lowest levelized cost of electricity globally and has the flexibility in terms of size and location.