Status of Renewable Energy (RE)
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During the period 2001-2010, it is expected that there will be a significant growth in energy use of about 60%. Forecasts reveal that imported fossil fuels will still play a big role in the country’s energy supply. But additional extraction of indigenous fossil fuels like natural gas will still continue. It is also projected that during the same period, the average annual growth rate of RE consumption is about 5.5%.
By 2010, the estimated RE consumption in the country is about 90.91 MMBFOE. Biomass fuels, mainly fuel wood, bagasse, rice hull and coconut residues, will continue to account for the largest share of the demand for RE.
The annual growth rate in consumption will be in the use of wind, solar and micro/minihydro,in that order.The forecast increase in RE consumption until 2010 is based on the accelerated development of large-scale RE systems generally suited for grid connection. This however, is in contradiction to the current thrust on off-grid RE system applications. The commercial technologies expected to provide this increase include micro-, and mini-hydro, solar, wind turbine generators and their hybrids. The total installed capacity to be provided by RE during the next 10 years is expected to reach about 410 MW. The RE resource potential in the Philippines is very good but to date exploitation of these resources has been limited.
