Renewable Readiness Assessments
Jenalyn Flores
Student, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Visayas State University
Baybay City, Philippines
E-mail address: floresjenalyn03@[Link]
I. Summary II. Insight
The Philippines is a small country that As I read the article, it made me realize
is located near the earth’s equator and the that there is an energy crisis and that the
Pacific Ocean which makes the country have Philippines is abundant in renewable energy.
tropical and wet seasons. According to I think there is an energy crisis due to the low
IRENA (2017), the Philippines are an production of coal, which is the dominant
importer of fossil energy. Although the energy source that sustains the Philippines’
country also produces fossil energy such as energy (The ASEAN Post, 2021). The
oil, natural gas, and coal, due to some crisis country is prolific with renewable energy
in energy especially in the gas field which since it is located in the Ring of Fire and near
supplies 30% of Luzon’s energy, it is the Pacific Ocean which makes it extremely
expected to be depleted by 2024 suitable for developing renewable energy.
(International Trade Administration, 2020).
It also made me realize that in spite of
It has further paved the way for the
having abundant renewable energy in the
development and establishment of renewable
country, the generation is quite low and
energy resources such as geothermal, solar,
cannot sustain 100% or 95% of the goal
biomass, wind power, hydropower, and
presented in the article. It made me think that
ocean energy that have received less
it might have something to do with funds or
awareness since it’s been found. In addition,
the government policies which later on I
it made a central aim to have energy
found out on the point.
independence to ensure sustainable, reliable,
secure, sufficient, and accessible energy,
After reading the whole article, what
which also created programs, regulations,
made me more interested or want to be given
rules, and policies to guarantee its safety,
emphasis is the off-grid areas and the process
capability, and sustainability.
of developing renewable energy. First, the
The article also addressed some article said that off-grid areas are not quite
challenges that are being encountered and suitable or advisable to connect the main grid
may yet to occur in developing and electricity to the off-grid areas for the reason
establishing these renewable energy that it is not economically practicable. But
resources and has promptly recommended from my perspective, even if off-grid areas
actions or solutions in order to address the are not economically escalating it is still part
challenges. of the Philippine area, how will the
government achieve their ultimate goal if off-
grids are being set aside? Since for the most REFERENCE
part, off-grids depend on diesel generator sets 1. [Link]
which are not reliable because it is not usually alysis/country/PHL
a 24-hour operation and diesel is expensive it
is difficult to have it maintained. And if
2. [Link]
resource-guide-philippines-oil-and-
government suggests having off-grids own
gas
Solar PVs, then it can be reliable only if they
will take part or offer assistance to the off- 3. [Link]
grids however, if the government cannot intelligence/philippines-energy-
offer assistance their suggestion will just end market
up to no purpose since off-grid areas cannot 4. [Link]
afford Solar PVs and it is also expensive. philippines-so-focused-coal
Government should reassess their goal and
include off-grids in it.
Second, is the process or phases that the
investors/developers have to go through prior
to construction. Due to programs,
regulations, rules, and policies that have been
implemented, it made the projects of
investors/developers were prolonged for the
reason of too many documents that require
signatures of those handling such policies in
order to get approval or permission to
construct. If the process is too slow it will
also be in need of large funds to cover the
expenses, and I think that will lose the interest
of investors/developers because of too much
paperwork that needs to be processed as well
as funds. Besides, just for the certifications
and permits it takes more than a hundred
signatures and takes years before it can be
noticed or approved.
Government should lessen the process
if they want to have the interest of the
investors/developers to further develop and
establish renewable energy but also continue
to be aware of its concerns.