Towards Energy Development and Electrification in the Philippines

This energy portal presents highlights taken from a comprehensive Philippine Energy Report that was conceptualized and written with the goal of capturing the Philippine baseline for energy development and electrification, identifying key issues and challenges, and proposing recommended actions for guidance in updating Philippine energy policy and institutional framework.

The site presents highlights from the report across the following primary areas:

  • Research: A collection of excerpts and data presentations and visualizations.
  • Energy Data: A collection of highlight tables, charts, maps, and figures used and presented during the overview and discussion of the report
  • Data and Visualization Tool: Presents a tool for visualizing energy data including a number of data sources gathered from the comprehensive report

Energy Development and Electrification in the Philippines Summary Report

To assist and strengthen efforts of the Department of Energy on its mandate of providing energy to all Philippine residents to make lives comfortable and businesses competitive, a comprehensive Philippine Energy Report was conceptualized and written with the goal of capturing the Philippine baseline for energy development and electrification, identifying key issues and challenges, and proposing recommended actions for guidance in updating Philippine energy policy and institutional framework.

The comprehensive report was undertaken under the Access to Sustainable Energy Programme– Clean Energy Living Laboratories (ASEP-CELLs) project with the guidance of the Ateneo Schoolof Government (ASoG). ASEP-CELLs is a component of the European Union-Philippines Access toSustainable Energy Programme..

This condensed report summarizes and visually presents key concepts, highlights,and relevant facts, figures and data from that report.

THE PHILIPPINE CONTEXT

The Philippine Baseline

The articles in this section provide a brief history of the Philippine energy industry and how each sector plays a role in delivering electricity. Given the 100% electrification target of the country, a review of the inventory of underserved and unserved households as well as the inventory of the electrification efforts are discussed to observe if it is possible to achieve the national targets.

Reponding to Demand

Covers high level data on electricity demand versus gross domestic product as well as a high level overview of growth in the Philippine power sector.

ENERGY DEVELOPMENT

Towards Energy Access In the Philippines

Access to energy is essential in meeting basic needs and attaining an improved quality of life for individuals. It has been defined as the provision of adequate amounts of high-quality and reliable modern energy supplies when needed and as the ability of individuals to purchase such supplies in the amounts deemed necessary for their daily use (G20 2016). It is instrumental in reducing poverty, crucial to a country’s economy and it ensures sustainable development therefore access to energy must be available to all.

This section starts with a discussion on development frameworks that are applicable to the Philippines. Strategies that boost sustainability, reduce cost and are patterned for renewable energy systems are given emphasis. The conventional and renewable resources with their feasibility of their operation are discussed. Software tools are then presented that can help to identify the optimal size and combination of these energy technologies for decentralized generation.

A Review of Major Energy Sources

To further advance energy access in the Philippines, it is necessary to examine all possible resources that can be used to accomplish its objectives. Moreover, a sustainable future is more achievable with more options on the market to provide greater energy security, stability, reliability and affordability.

Renewable Energy

If fossil fuels are sourced from finite resources, renewable energy takes its energy from inexhaustible natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, water, ocean, plant growth and heat from the earth. Moreover, renewable energy does not have such a damaging effect on the environment and human health unlike fossil fuels which emit greenhouse gases that lead to global warming.

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear power gets its electricity from power plants that derive their heat from fission in nuclear reactors. The concept is similar to a large coal-fired power plant where water is heated to produce steam which spins large turbines that generate electricity. Rather than coal combustion, it is nuclear fission contained by reactors that heats the water. In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The most important constituent of a nuclear reactor is the fuel and uranium is the basic natural nuclear fuel 

Energy Storage

To combat the variability and generation intermittency of renewable energy technologies, energy storage systems (ESS) have become an important factor for electric power systems. Besides storing and smoothing renewable power, ESS’s can increase power system operation and planning resiliency and efficiency.

Technology Feasibility

From fossil fuels down to renewable resources and even nuclear power, the Philippines has many options to tap in order to further expand energy access as well as ensuring better energy security. To determine which energy technologies are the most attractive for development and investment, tools like determining levelized cost of energy and energy return on investment can provide insight. 

Tools for Identifying the Optimal Energy Mix

Within an energy access framework, the capacities of the energy technologies to be deployed have to be determined. A central step in the Sustainable Energy Access Planning framework is to determine the least-cost options.

Policies Governing Philippine Electrification

Imperative in constructing a framework towards increasing access to energy is understanding the characteristics inherent to the current Philippine legal framework on electrification and its corresponding limitations. This section aims to present the foundational policies that shape electrification in the country. It will lay down the policy of the Philippines on electrification through a discussion of key pieces of legislation and administrative regulations affecting access to energy.

Key Challenges and Recommendations for Energy Development

Energy Access: A look at community-based micro hydro power (MHP) projects in Malibcong, Abra.

The study investigates:

  • What is the role of the community in the RE program? 
  • What initiatives were taken by the different stakeholders to sustain the program? 
  • What are the best practices that make a program sustainable? 
  • Are there policies that support RE programs? 

ABOUT THIS RESEARCH

Research material presented in this section as part of a comprehensive report on Energy Development and Electrification in the Philippines was conducted by SolarSolutions Inc.

SolarSolutions is a private enterprise focused on empowering communities and individuals through renewable energy products and services that deliver great value and produce highly positive social impacts for all our customers through a profitable, sustainable, and innovative social enterprise.