DOE: Non-moving RE projects open opportunities for foreign investors

Department of Energy (DOE) Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara said Wednesday the renewable energy (RE) projects that already secured service contracts (SCs) but do not progress have opened investment opportunities for foreign companies, especially from Europe.

“There is a large opportunity to invest in renewable energy. Of the over 1,000 service contracts that we have awarded, some have been awarded to the big companies, but majority have been awarded to small companies. They’re able to get the service contract, but we are not seeing the projects being constructed,” Guevara said during the joint economic briefing of European foreign chambers in Makati City.

She urged foreign companies to look into opportunities that this situation has presented.

The DOE can terminate the SCs of those projects that have not complied with their workplan.

“We are cleaning the list. All those that are not compliant, we plan to terminate the contracts, and only those serious with the projects will be left. They have the workplan. If they cannot fulfill that, they can be terminated,” she added in Filipino.

As of November 2023, some 1,186 RE service contracts were awarded by the DOE.

For the same period, of the total equivalent potential capacity of 132.9 gigawatts, only 5.7 GW have been installed.

Majority of the awarded SCs are in hydropower with 433 approved projects, followed by solar at 329, wind at 239, biomass at 76, geothermal at 37, and ocean at nine approved projects.

In terms of potential capacity, the biggest will come from wind at 84,109.7 megawatts; followed by solar, with 28,732.8 MW; hydropower, with 18,912.6 MW; geothermal, with 983.2 MW; biomass, with 212.9 MW; and ocean, with 34 MW. (PNA)