PH Renewable Energy Capacity in Q1 of 2021 Reaches 5,695.82 MW

During the first quarter of the year, the country’s total installed capacity for renewable energy (RE) reached 5,695.82 megawatts (MW). This is a substantial rise compared to 4,971.72MW in the same period of the previous year.

Of the 5,695.82 megawatts, 5,519.37 MW were allocated for grid use while the other 176.46MW were for personal consumption.

A total of 927 RE projects were recorded based on data from the Department of Energy (DOE). This consists of 407 hydro, 307 solar, 87 biomass, 86 wind, 32 geothermal, and 8 ocean projects.

Among these projects, geothermal had the biggest capacity with 1,928.07MW. Hydro followed at 1,440.02MW, solar had 1095.51MW, wind had 442.91MW, and biomass had 789.32MW.

By 2030, the DOE is aiming for a 37.3% RE share in the power mix and increasing up to 55.8% by 2050. This will require the renewable portfolio standards (RPS) program of the government to go up from 1% to 2.5%.

Under the RPS program, distribution utilities are required to link with eligible RE facilities for a portion of their supply needs.

“My hope is that over time, the government will increase that. At the current level of RPS which is at 1 percent annual increment, we will not get to the 35 percent share of RE output by 2030. We are currently at 21 percent,” expressed AC Energy President Eric Francia.

“If we are serious to be at 35 percent, we agree with NREB [National Renewable Energy Board] that the 1 percent increment must go up to 2.5 percent by 2023 or 2024,” Francia added.

Source: BusinessMirror