Report Says That PH Saved ₱4.5 Billion in Fossil Fuel Spending

In a report recently released, the Philippines was able to save $78 million in fossil fuel spending via solar generation in the first six months of 2022 despite the country not fully maximizing its solar potential.

This report was done by Ember, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Ari, and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, which discovered that solar generation allowed Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, India, and China to lessen costs of fossil fuel of $34 billion this January to June of 2022 which is an estimated 9% of the total fossil costs of this time period.

This report mentioned that while capacities of solar power generation are still minimal, the saved fuel costs are “still notable”

For the first half of 2022, the Philippines experienced only 1.7% of solar generation in the country but this would translate to ₱4.5 billion in savings in fossil fuels costs. Thailand was able to avert costs of $209 million even with solar energy only comprising 2% of the entire kingdom’s electricity supply.

The report says that “there appears to be a new tone to the Philippines’ effort to expand solar capacity, which could be a game-changer for the country.”

“But the country’s energy policies have often proven fragile, and smaller rooftop and distributed solar players still find it challenging to access finance,”  the report adds.

According to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the initiative to expand the use of renewable energy sources is “at the top of our climate agenda.”

Source: Philstar