Jeremiah Jiv P.

Estrella
Mep-ME

Activity 3: Renewable Energy in the Philippines

Is the Philippines ready for renewable energy production? Why?

The Philippines, with its vast natural resources, is very much ready for renewable energy production. As a
tropical archipelago, the country has the potential to generate a lot of energy from natural resources. In
recent years, solar panels in the Philippines have come to the forefront in cost efficiency with regular
consumers. In truth, the Philippines have been generating energy from renewable resources for a long
while now. It has only been in recent history that more and more of the Filipino people are recognizing the
benefits of renewable energies as an alternative to oil and carbon.[1]
Moving water is a powerful source of energy. Abundant bodies of water are available throughout the
Philippines to harness hydro electric energy. The country makes use of two methods in order to harness
power; dam storage or impoundment, and run-of-river. The country also has a lot of coastal areas which
make tidal and ocean energy possible. According to the techno-economic assessment of wave energy
resources in the Philippines, there is around 10−20 kW/m of wave energy flux scattered in various coastal
areas of the Philippines. [1] [2]
The Philippines is one of the world's top producers of geothermal power, as it is located along the Ring of
Fire zone of Pacific volcanoes. There are two methods of extracting geothermal energy used in the
Philippines: the flash steam and the binary cycle. The country currently has seven geothermal fields which
supply about 12 percent of the nation's energy, with a long-term plan to nearly double capacity by 2040. [3]
[4]
The Philippines has abundant supplies of biomass energy resources in the form of agricultural crop
residues, forest residues, animal wastes, agro-industrial wastes, municipal solid wastes and aquatic
biomass. At present, biomass technologies utilized in the country vary from the use of bagasse as boiler
fuel for cogeneration, rice/coconut husks dryers for crop drying, biomass gasifiers for mechanical and
electrical applications, fuelwood and agricultural wastes for oven, kiln, furnace and cook-stoves for cooking
and heating purposes. [5]
The Philippines has strong potential in harnessing solar energy, both for consumer use and power
production, given the continued drop in prices and further innovation in the field. In addition, the country is
prepared to join the solar power revolution, mainly due to its geographical location within the two Tropical
Zones. It is well known that the archipelagic geology of the Philippines poses unique challenges in the
distribution of solar power energy, and it is acknowledged that the Philippines should be very able to adapt
a solar energy system for the country. [6]
Can we defend on energy resources currently installed here in the Philippines?
The Philippines is a net energy importer, particularly of fossil fuels. As a net energy importer, the
Philippines is inevitably vulnerable to oil supply disruptions, oil price fluctuations, and geopolitical dynamics
shaping the energy exporting countries. The continued use of fossil fuels in the country not only highlights
the issue of energy security but also the equally important issue of sustainability. [7]
According to the Department of Energy, the total installed capacity in Philippines is 25,531 MW with
dependable capacity of 22,736 MW. The available capacity of the country is 16,606 MW which is enough
for the country’s peak demand of 15,581 MW as recorded in 2019. Still, the current power situation in the
Philippines calls for further improvement. There are parts of the country, especially in Visayas and
Mindanao region, which has insufficient or no electricity at all. According to the National Electrification
Administration (NEA) in a House Committee on Appropriations hearing, there are around 2,319,660 million
homes that still have no access to electricity. The Agency also needs around 28 billion pesos of budget for
total electrification of the country which is quite a challenge for the government to finance. Nonetheless, the
agency said they will just maximize government subsidies and grants and donations from foreign
institutions, among other monetary sources, to meet their target. [8] [9]

Most applicable renewable energy that we can rely here in the Philippines
Geothermal energy is heat derived within the sub-surface of the earth. Water and/or steam carry the
geothermal energy to the Earth’s surface. Depending on its characteristics, geothermal energy can be used
for heating and cooling purposes or be harnessed to generate clean electricity. However, for electricity,
generation high or medium temperature resources are needed, which are usually located close to
tectonically active regions. This key renewable source covers a significant share of electricity demand in
the Philippines. The main advantages are that it is not depending on weather conditions and has very high
capacity factors; for these reasons, geothermal power plants are capable of supplying baseload electricity,
as well as providing ancillary services for short and long-term flexibility in some cases. [10]
The Philippines is seen as an outperforming geothermal power investment hotspot in the next decade given
its strong capacity for the renewable energy (RE) resource, according to Fitch Solutions Country Risk &
Industry Research. The unit of Fitch Solutions Group Ltd has named the Philippines, along with Kenya, as
global geothermal outperformers, or those geothermal power markets that have a significant capacity base
installed, and/or will register substantial growth in capacity over a 10-year forecast period to 2029. [11]
The Philippines is one of the world’s top producers of geothermal power, as it is located along the Ring of
Fire zone of Pacific volcanoes. However, in 2018, the country dropped in the global rankings for geothermal
countries, just behind Indonesia. Geothermal trailblazer and leading renewable energy company, Energy
Development Corporation (EDC) believes that geothermal is the key to establishing a stable energy
baseload suited to the constant yet dynamic power needs of the Philippines’ developing economy. [3]
Constraints that we can consider before shifting to renewable energy? Elaborate. Sample
constraints (political, economical and sustainability)
The Philippines’ sustained economic growth, coupled with growing population with improved living
standards, is the main driver for the increase in domestic energy demand. As the demand for energy
is projected to increase in the coming years, the challenges of energy security and sustainability become
more pressing not only because the country relies heavily on imported energy but also because it
has limited energy resources. According to the Department of Energy, Coal continuously dominated the
power mix in 2019 by increasing its share from 52.1% in 2018 to 54.6%. This means that it will be hard to
replace coal as a source of energy, especially in our industries. The kind of infrastructural changes that are
required in changing from coal to other renewable sources of energy is prohibitive—in terms of cost and
time. [7] [8] [12]
The cost of infrastructural development required to develop and set-up renewable energy plants is
prohibitive. At current rates, renewable energy is more expensive than other sources. The high costs are
related to the dependency on imported renewable energy technologies. These costs will remain high in
relation the country’s increasing reliance on imported technology. The high cost of the technologies,
therefore, means that most people are more likely to go for coal-generated energy because it is readily
available hence reliable and affordable compared to renewable energy. [12] [7]
Lack of policies and regulations favoring the development of renewable energy technologies can hinder
adoption of these technologies. Due to the nature of renewable energy structures, renewable energy
market needs clear policies and legal procedures to increase the interest of investors. While policies are
important in accelerating the development and advancement of RE and have been
implemented by government officials, there have been gaps between the implementation of policies and
putting in place the related mechanisms. For instance, the feed-in-tariff (FIT) rates provided by the
Renewable Energy Act were only issued four years after the enactment of the said law. The FIT is
considered to be a guarantee to potential investors of a stable pricing mechanism and a key
determinant of the economic viability of renewable energy projects. However, the FIT rates were
significantly lower than expected and were received by investors with less enthusiasm. The final
implementing rules and regulations of the FIT system as well as other mechanisms, namely,
renewable portfolio standard, net metering, renewable energy market, green energy options,
interconnection with the grid, priority dispatch, and renewable energy trust fund have yet to be put in
place.[12] [7]
Technical barriers to renewable energy development include inadequate technology and lack of
infrastructure necessary to support the technologies. Lack of physical facilities for transmission and
distribution networks, as well as equipment and services necessary for power companies, is a major
infrastructural challenge for renewable energy development in the country. Most of this equipment are
usually not readily available in those countries and are therefore imported from the industrialized nations.
Additionally, inadequate servicing and maintenance of equipment, together with low reliability in a
technology lowers customer confidence in some renewable energy technologies and hence hinder their
adoption. Lack or absence of a database in estimating the resource potential is also a major challenge for a
developing country like the Philippines. For example, unlike in other regions, mostly in Europe, the
Philippines do not have an archive of wave profiles of its coastal areas which is very much essential for the
development of wave energy.[12] [2]
The lack of skilled technicians relates to the novelty and complexity of renewable energy technologies.
Since these technologies are not yet often applied in remote islands, it is difficult to find experienced
technicians. Additionally, technicians tend to leave rural areas to seek better income sources in urban
areas after finishing their training. Skilled laborers are necessary during the construction of facilities and
can sometimes not be recruited from remote islands. This lack of locally available skills entails higher cost
for constructing, operating, and maintaining energy systems as electric cooperative resort to incentivizing
workers and technicians to regularly go to or to move to these small and remote islands. [13]
The geographical location and natural conditions of the country can be a form of barrier to renewable
energy development. Small islands in the Philippines are mostly remote. There is a general lack of reliable
and appropriate transportation systems and related infrastructure to facilitate access to these small islands.
The transportation of the equipment for a power plant to remote islands is often very complicated and
exposed to several challenges. Renewable energy sources such as hydroelectric, solar, wind farm and
geothermal greatly affects the local environment. Deforestation and relocation of local inhabitant is of an
important moral issue to consider before the development even begun. Lack of knowledge and awareness
of renewable energy technologies and systems amongst rural communities is another challenge
encountered in renewable energy development. [12] [13]
Is nuclear power plant can consider a renewable energy? Kindly Elaborate.
Renewable energy is defined as an energy source/fuel type that can regenerate and can replenish itself
indefinitely. The five renewable sources used most often are biomass, wind, solar, hydro and geothermal.
Nuclear energy on the other hand is a result of heat generated through the fission process of atoms. All
power plants convert heat into electricity using steam. At nuclear power plants, the heat to make the steam
is created when atoms split apart - called fission. The fission releases energy in the form of heat and
neutrons. The released neutrons then go on to hit other neutrons and repeat the process, hence generating
more heat. [14]
In most cases the fuel used for nuclear fission is uranium. One of the biggest arguments against including
nuclear energy in the list of renewable is the fact that uranium deposit on earth is finite, unlike solar and
wind. To be counted as renewable, the energy source (fuel) should be sustainable for an indefinite period
of time, according to the definition of renewable energy. Nuclear power reactors also produced harmful
nuclear waste which is considered as a radioactive pollutant that goes against the notion of a renewable
energy source. Another major argument proposed by the opponents of including nuclear energy as
renewable energy is the harmful nuclear waste from nuclear power reactors. The nuclear waste is
considered as a radioactive pollutant that goes against the notion of a renewable energy source. [14]
However recent studies showed that uranium can also be extracted from the ocean’s salt water. One
approach developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Institute used polymer mats that would draw the uranium
atoms out of solution. But this was very expensive, and a cheaper process that involved doping polymers
with amidoxime and then irradiating them was developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. While this
showed more promise, PNNL and Idaho-based LCW took it a step further by taking ordinary acrylic yarn
and converting it into a uranium adsorbent. The exact details of the process haven't been released, but
PNNL says that the yellowcake sample shows that not only does the technique work, but that the acrylic
can be cleaned and reused. Seawater concentrations of uranium are controlled by steady-state, or pseudo-
equilibrium, chemical reactions between waters and rocks on the Earth, both in the ocean and on land. And
those rocks contain 100 trillion tons of uranium. So whenever uranium is extracted from seawater, more is
leached from rocks to replace it, to the same concentration. It is impossible for humans to extract enough
uranium over the next billion years to lower the overall seawater concentrations of uranium, even if nuclear
provided 100% of our energy and our species lasted a billion years. In other words, uranium in seawater is
actually completely renewable, as renewable as solar energy. Yes, uranium in the crust is, strictly speaking,
finite. But so is the Sun, which will eventually burn out. But that won’t begin to happen for another 5 billion
years. Even the wind on Earth will stop at about that time as our atmosphere boils off during the Sun’s
initial death throes as a Red Giant. [15] [16]
In conclusion, although nuclear energy is clean and sustainable, the uranium which fuels the nuclear power
plant is not renewable. As abundant as it seem, uranium metal is still a finite resources in the environment.
The research for extracting uranium fuel, more efficient nuclear reactor, and proper waste disposal keeps
on getting better. Technological advancement indicate that nuclear energy can sustain our increasing
needs for energy as for as long as civilization needs that nuclear energy can also be considered as
renewable energy source.

References:

[1] Solenergy Systems Inc., “RENEWABLE ENERGY SPOTS IN THE PHILIPPINES.” [Online].
Available: [Link]
[2] M. R. D. Quitoras, M. L. S. Abundo, and L. A. M. Danao, “A techno-economic assessment of wave
energy resources in the Philippines,” Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev., vol. 88, no. September 2017,
pp. 68–81, 2018, doi: 10.1016/[Link].2018.02.016.
[3] A. Nortajuddin, “Revamping geothermal in the Philippines | The ASEAN Post,” pp. 1–5, 2020.
[4] Reve, “Geothermal energy in Philippines.” [Online]. Available:
[Link]
[5] S. Zafar, “Biomass Energy Potential in Philippines,” pp. 1–11, 2020.
[6] ASEAN Briefing, “Solar Power Industry in the Philippines,” Asia Brief., pp. 1–7, 2017.
[7] S. P. Brahim, “Renewable energy and energy security in the Philippines,” Energy Procedia, vol. 52,
no. Figure 2, pp. 480–486, 2014, doi: 10.1016/[Link].2014.07.101.
[8] F. W. Fuentebella and R. Delola, “2019 Power Situation Report,” Bonifacio Global City (BGC),
Taguig City, Philippines, 2019.
[9] J. Peralta, “Over 2 . 3 million households remain without electricity – NEA,” CNN Philippines, pp. 8–
11, 27-Aug-2019.
[10] International Renewable Energy Agency, “Geothermal Energy,” 2019. [Online]. Available:
[Link]
[11] D. Rivera, “Philippines seen as geothermal power investment hotspot in 10 years,” The Philippine
Star, pp. 1–15, 10-Jul-2020.
[12] D. Kariuki, “Barriers to Renewable Energy Technologies velopment,” no. 2, pp. 1–13, 2020.
[13] P. Bertheau, J. Dionisio, C. Jütte, and C. Aquino, “Challenges for implementing renewable energy in
a cooperative-driven off-grid system in the Philippines,” Environ. Innov. Soc. Transitions, vol. 35, no.
March 2019, pp. 333–345, 2020, doi: 10.1016/[Link].2019.03.002.
[14] N. Chowdhury, “Is Nuclear Energy Reneable Energy?,” pp. 22–23, 2012.
[15] D. Szondy, “Cost-effective method of extracting uranium from seawater promises limitless nuclear
power,” pp. 1–10, 2016.
[16] J. Conca, “Uranium Seawater Extraction Makes Nuclear Power Completely Renewable,” Forbes,
pp. 1–8, 2016.