Slow but sure shift
Consider the billions of pesos in capital that would be wasted on overpriced solar panels and wind turbines that will sit idle, while blackouts loom and foreign vendors cash in.
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Consider the billions of pesos in capital that would be wasted on overpriced solar panels and wind turbines that will sit idle, while blackouts loom and foreign vendors cash in.
Renewable energy has been draped in the noble cloak of environmental salvation, presented as a global imperative to slash emissions, combat climate change and secure a sustainable future.
The world has come to realize, however, that renewable energy (RE) is starting to crumble as an expensive fad, in which Western interest groups quietly shelved their own ambitious experiments amid escalating costs, then offloaded their half-baked strategies to developing nations.
With its creaky infrastructure buckling under the weight of a mega-scandal in flood control projects, the Philippines risks becoming a dumping ground for failed technology and their hollow promises.
Consider the billions of pesos in capital that would be wasted on overpriced solar panels and wind turbines that will sit idle, while blackouts loom and foreign vendors cash in.
The cost of RE globally is subsidized through the so-called feed-in tariffs (FiTs) that are tacked onto the monthly electricity bills.
Germany, which launched its Energiewende (energy transition) campaign, was the poster child of the RE transition. By 2010, the country had invested €500 billion in wind and solar energy, aiming for 80-percent renewable energy by 2050.
The UK followed with offshore wind mandates, while the US used tax credits to infuse billions. Lately, however, Germany’s vaunted transition has backfired spectacularly.
Despite installing 60 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 65 GW of wind, Germany faced rolling blackouts in 2022-2023, with energy prices spiking 400 percent due to grid overloads and its reliance on Russian gas imports, ironically, to backstop intermittent REs.
Critics acknowledge that the FiT system has created “stranded assets” and increased consumer bills by €300 billion. Even early champions, such as the EU’s Green Deal architects, have dialed back. The 2024 revision of the program has watered-down goals, allowing more gas plants to be considered as “bridge fuels,” while France and Sweden are pivoting harder towards nuclear for baseload stability.
The Philippines should not allow itself to be a laboratory for the green energy offensive.
The 2008 Renewable Energy Act set a 15.3 GW target by 2030, equivalent to 35 percent of the power mix. This target was updated in 2023 to 50 percent by 2040, in line with Conference of the Parties (CoP) commitments.
The country’s geothermal (ranked third in the world at 1.9 GW) and hydro (4.1 GW) resources already punch above their weight, powering 22 percent of the country’s capacity.
Another hurdle is infrastructure, which isn’t primed for the shift. The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) has admitted that remote RE sites in Mindanao and Luzon can’t connect because the transmission lines are decades-old, typhoon-battered, and underfunded.
Developers of solar farms face the risk of their output being unusable due to grid bottlenecks, which often leave them offline.
The reality for the country and other developing peers is that coal is “dirty” but dispatchable, which is not the case with RE.
Urban planners have blamed incompetence and corruption for the current floodgate scandal. RE pitches will likely face the same fate.
A slow transition is the most logical and pragmatic approach to RE until the technology catches up, which will make it a more reliable source of electricity.
