The Future of Hydroelectricity in the Philippines

 By: Russel Ceballos

Figure 1. SOLECO Hydro Power Plant [4]

The Philippines is a country blessed with beautiful natural landscapes such as mountains, falls and volcanoes. This makes the Philippines rich with numerous options for renewable energy. One of the most pertinent sources of renewable energy in the Philippines is Hydroelectricity.  Hydroelectric energy uses the power of flowing water to generate electric power. Furthermore, hydropower’s benefits do not limit itself to generating electricity.  Hydropower could also provide clean drinking water, flood control and irrigation support. It is affordable since it provides low-cost electricity generation and its durability is superb compared to other renewable energy sources.  Hydropower energy has a great potential in the Philippines that is why the government has set its sight in improving and constructing more projects to cater to this.

Existing Capacity

            The current energy mix of the Philippines is composed of 47% coal, 22% natural gas, 24% renewable energy, and 6.4% oil-based. While the 22% of the renewable energy mix is composed of 4.3 gigawatts of hydro power, 896 megawatts from solar energy, 427 megawatts of wind energy [2].

About 4.5% of the energy being used in the Philippines comes from Hydroelectricity [2]. These numbers are significant but not promising because they are still far below oil and coal. How can we improve the current situation of the Philippine Energy Market? Does the government have plans laid out to solve this problem?

 

The future of Hydroelectricity in the Philippines    

Figure 2. Hydroelectric Facility in a microgrid [5]

The future of hydropower in the Philippines remains uncertain. Despite falling costs and increasing energy demand, hydropower faces significant competition from other renewable energy sources. However, despite these challenges, hydropower remains a viable option for the Philippines. The country has the potential to install more hydropower plants than most countries in Asia. Most importantly, if hydropower is fully established in the Philippines, its capacity could meet up to one-third of the nation's energy demand [5].  Moreover, hydropower plants create a great impact on our environment for not only does it has cheaper operational costs, it also produces clean energy that greatly lessens the amount of greenhouse gases[3].

The Department of Energy has approved 450 new projects in the whole country in order to improve the current situation of Hydroelectricity in the Philippines. This resolution alone would bring up our hydropower generation to a total of 13.5 Giga-Watts and a 240 Megawatts pumped storage facility [5]. Without a doubt, hydropower will play a significant role in the Philippines energy mix. However, the existing projects aren't enough to meet the goal of 35% generation from renewable energy by 2030 and 50% by 2040 [5].

            Thankfully, the government has implemented full ownership to foreign investors in order to boost our renewable energy sector and meet our long term energy market’s target. With that said, foreign investors can now hold 100 percent of the equity in the development and exploration of the Philippine’s renewable energy resources [1]. This opportunity would lead countries with extensive expertise in the field of renewable energy to gain access to our facilities.

            The National Renewable Energy Program has set its target to 20 Gigawatts of hydropower generation by 2040 and it aims to increase the country’s hydro electricity generation capacity by 160% by 2027 [5] .The share of renewable energy in the Philippine’s Energy Mix will steadily increase over the next few decades because of the opportunity opened by the full foreign ownership of the country’s renewable energy resources.

 

Conclusion

The future of hydropower in the Philippines looks promising. With the current projects from the government and the incoming investments brought by the full foreign ownership, there’s no doubt that hydropower will thrive in the Philippines. With great development opportunities, hydropower will have a great future in the Philippines. The rapid growth of our economy and the Philippine’s geographical orientation, we could really exhaust the full potential of hydropower and without a doubt hydropower generation will ascend in the next few decades.

  

References

[1] Koty, Alexander Chipman. “Philippines Opens Renewable Energy to Full Foreign Ownership.” ASEAN Briefing, 11 January 2023, https://www.aseanbriefing.com/news/philippines-opens-renewable-energy-to-full-foreign-ownership/. Accessed 18 February 2023.

[2] “Philippines Energy Market.” International Trade Administration, 4 22 2020, https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/philippines-energy-market. Accessed 18 February 2023.

[3] “The Role of Hydropower in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: A Review.” Engineering, vol. 2, no. 3, 2016, pp. 313-318. Science Direct, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S209580991631164X#:~:text=Hydropower%20contributes%20significantly%20to%20the%20reduction%20of%20GHG%20emissions%20and,global%20annual%20CO2%20emissions.

[4] “SOLECO raises first pico hydro power plant in the Philippines.” Power Philippines, 10 October 2016, https://powerphilippines.com/soleco-first-picohydro-powerplant-ph/. Accessed 20 February 2023.

[5] V, Evgeny, and Eric Koons. “Could Hydropower Be the Answer to the Philippines' Energy Woes?” Energy Tracker Asia, 12 October 2022, https://energytracker.asia/hydropower-in-the-philippines/. Accessed 18 February 2023.