RUSH June 2018

RUSH
The Philippines, because
of its geographically
exposed position being
particularly vulnerable to
extreme weather conditions, has
been suffering from more violent
storms in recent years. With a
projected population growth to
an estimated 140 million people
by 2040 from roughly 100 million
people as of now, the demand
for energy is forecasted by the
Department of Energy to increase
to more than four-fold from 12.2
MW in 2015 to 49.3 MW by 2040.
Mindanao is projected to have the
highest growth in demand at an
annual rate of 8%.
While coal and oil will still play
a fundamental role in energy
supply for the country over the
next two decades and beyond,
there has been a focus set in
the Philippine Energy Plan 2017-
2040 on cleaner energy sources,
including liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG) and natural gas for the
transport sector, as well as on
increasing the share of renewable
energy sources—namely biomass,
geothermal, solar, wind, and
hydro—in the power mix in order
to sustainably reduce carbon
emissions. This should come
together with the promotion to
implement clean, efficient, and
smart energy technologies, since
meeting the dual challenge of
mitigating the risks of climate
change while boosting alternative
energy supply requires additional
technological advances.
With regard to renewable
energy, the Philippines seems
to be on the right track. The
installed capacity of renewable
energy in the country grew
significantly over the past years,
pushed by continuous promotion
and encouragement of the
Department of Energy towards
renewable energy developers
through a variety of incentives
such as feed-in-tariffs and priority
dispatch regulations.
Fuel transition in the
transportation sector
Another important step in
the energy transition of the
Philippines will be the adoption
of alternative fuels such as
natural gas and other power
sources for vehicles—a change
that will take significant effort
since it is disrupting an entire,
well-established ecosystem
built upon by established energy
companies, conventional vehicle
manufacturers, and infrastructure
plans.
Globally, this system is being
challenged in recent years with
the advent and growing popularity
of more environmentally friendly
cars and electric vehicles, as well
as scandals involving fraudulent
auto manufacturers downplaying
the polluting effects of their
engines. This has resulted in
several countries—including the
most populous, China and India,
as well as the U.K., Germany,
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