The growth of renewable energy (RE) in the country is encountering several obstacles, mainly the extensive process of securing permits for related projects, even though the Energy Virtual One Stop Shop was identified as one of the RE transition enabler, according to a policy report recently published by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Philippines.
The report, the WWF said, is based on two formal roundtable discussions organized by the pro-environment group and representatives from government, civil society, and organizations in the public and private sectors.
“According to the participants of the discussions, the lengthy permitting process has been identified as one of the biggest obstacles to the deployment of renewable energy,” the report stated.
“Just at the initial stage, the requirement for renewable energy developers to secure numerous permits and signatures can already lengthen the permitting process, especially in view of the manner by which these documents have to go through different bureaus, divisions, and agencies. This process is further lengthened and complicated when these bureaus, divisions, and agencies have clarifications regarding the applications of the renewable energy developers,” the report stated.
According to the report, the inadequate promotion of RE to both the private and public sectors has resulted in the lack of familiarity with the various RE policies.
The WWF said participants also pointed out during the roundtable discussions that there are a handful of incentives to entice investors to transition to RE, especially since the development of facilities has initially not been a cost-effective endeavor. During the discussions, the WWF participants agreed that the government needs to develop a clearer pathway and outlook in the RE sector to guide prospective investors and to study the inclusion of additional incentives for investments on these technologies to come in.
The policy report and roundtable discussions are part of WWF-Philippines’ MoRE: (Monitoring Renewable Energy Implementation in the Philippines project) that aims to boost the growth of the RE sector.
The overall goal of the MoRE project is for the country to transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by accelerating applications of renewable, low-carbon, and no-carbon energy sources to fulfill the country’s energy demands.
The MoRE project, in close coordination with government, civil society, and other industry partners, aims to enhance policy processes, particularly addressing gaps in monitoring the status and performance of RE policies. The project also seeks to determine the challenges encountered by policymakers in the development and implementation of various RE mechanisms.
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Policy report lists hindrance to renewable energy growth
Source: News Paper Radio
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