Philippines among most energy efficient in Asia
The Philippines is now ranked among the top five most energy-efficient countries in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), yet the price of energy remains among the costliest.
Indeed, the group of island’s challenging geography and the government’s lack of desire to employ subsidies has also given the Philippines the ranking as the second most expensive electricity provider in Asia, with Meralco, the largest power supplier, raising rates in November 2012 to US24.5 cents/kWh.
However, Philippine Department of Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said that the country’s energy-efficiency initiatives are close to, and in some case even on par with energy-efficient Asian countries, such as China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, Malaya, a Philippine newspaper, has reported.
The second largest energy project currently being financed by the ADB is in the Philippines, at $31 million via a loan to the government’s Philippine Energy Efficiency Project (PEEP), while the largest is in China.
The most northeastern Southeast Asian nation is also a living success story in the renewable energy sector. The Philippines is the second largest producer of geothermal energy in the world behind the US, with a 1,904-megawatt geothermal capacity in 2010, composing nearly 25 per cent of its power needs, compared to 3,093 megawatts in the US.
On track
The Philippines looks likely to continue on this track thanks to outside support. In early February 2013, ThomasLloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund announced that it would be backing a $500-million pipeline of biomass power plants, primarily in Negros Occidental.
The first facility will go up within the San Carlos Ecozone in San Carlos City and have a capacity of 18 megawatts.
Additionally, two more plants are being planned for Negros and another for Luzon, ThomasLloyd Group Plc Chair and CEO Michael Sieg told media.
The total capacity of the biomass portfolio, which will cost $500 million, will reach 100 megawatts.
[caption id="attachment_7108" align="alignleft" width="300"] Biomass power plant in the Philippines[/caption] The Philippines is now ranked among the top five most energy-efficient countries in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), yet the price of energy remains among the costliest. Indeed, the group of island’s challenging geography and the government’s lack of desire to employ subsidies has also given the Philippines the ranking as the second most expensive electricity provider in Asia, with Meralco, the largest power supplier, raising rates in November 2012 to US24.5 cents/kWh. However, Philippine Department of Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said that the country’s energy-efficiency initiatives...
The Philippines is now ranked among the top five most energy-efficient countries in Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), yet the price of energy remains among the costliest.
Indeed, the group of island’s challenging geography and the government’s lack of desire to employ subsidies has also given the Philippines the ranking as the second most expensive electricity provider in Asia, with Meralco, the largest power supplier, raising rates in November 2012 to US24.5 cents/kWh.
However, Philippine Department of Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson said that the country’s energy-efficiency initiatives are close to, and in some case even on par with energy-efficient Asian countries, such as China, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, Malaya, a Philippine newspaper, has reported.
The second largest energy project currently being financed by the ADB is in the Philippines, at $31 million via a loan to the government’s Philippine Energy Efficiency Project (PEEP), while the largest is in China.
The most northeastern Southeast Asian nation is also a living success story in the renewable energy sector. The Philippines is the second largest producer of geothermal energy in the world behind the US, with a 1,904-megawatt geothermal capacity in 2010, composing nearly 25 per cent of its power needs, compared to 3,093 megawatts in the US.
On track
The Philippines looks likely to continue on this track thanks to outside support. In early February 2013, ThomasLloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund announced that it would be backing a $500-million pipeline of biomass power plants, primarily in Negros Occidental.
The first facility will go up within the San Carlos Ecozone in San Carlos City and have a capacity of 18 megawatts.
Additionally, two more plants are being planned for Negros and another for Luzon, ThomasLloyd Group Plc Chair and CEO Michael Sieg told media.
The total capacity of the biomass portfolio, which will cost $500 million, will reach 100 megawatts.
Even though the Philippines is ranked among the top five most energy-efficient countries in Asia, it has had constant power outages, at least in 2012. The investment by ThomasLloyd Cleantech Infrastructure Fund this month will definitely be a contribution to improve the Philippines power supply while continuing to be energy efficient. It will be interesting to see if the Philippines can lower its electricity rates by the end of 2013.