Recently, the Ministry of Energy of the Philippines issued an announcement announcing the revision of the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, removing the restriction on the proportion of Philippine capital to at least 60% in the exploration, development and utilization of renewable energy, allowing foreign enterprises to participate in renewable energy projects with 100% shareholding, and exploring, developing and utilizing renewable energy resources.

The renewable energy sources to which the above amendment applies include solar energy, wind power, hydropower, geothermal, ocean or tidal energy. However, the shareholding ratio of foreign-funded enterprises that directly requisitioned water resources from the source should continue to be restricted by relevant water laws and regulations.

The Ministry of Energy said that this move would help achieve the target of 35% renewable energy in 2030 and 50% renewable energy in 2040. Of course, the Philippines has made more than that to promote the development of renewable energy.

Increase the growth rate of renewable energy

Previously, the Philippine Ministry of Energy announced the implementation of renewable portfolio standard (RPS) from 2019. Load Serving Entities (LSE) are obliged to increase the share of renewable energy by 1% annually during 2019-2022.

In September 2022, the Ministry of Energy announced that from 2023, the renewable energy quota increased annually to 2.52%—— That is to say, in order to meet this requirement, it is estimated that 2.4 GW of photovoltaic power or 1.3 GW of wind power will be added annually in 2024-2030.

Approve the promotion plan of wind energy industry

Recently, President Marcos of the Philippines approved a promotion plan involving the wind energy industry. The Ministry of Energy is responsible for the supervision of the wind energy industry and simplifying the approval procedures to support the exploration and development of offshore wind energy as a clean and sustainable energy. According to the plan, the Philippines is expected to install 40GW of offshore wind energy by 2050.

In addition, the Philippine government amended the Foreign Investment Law in 2022, allowing international investors to establish and wholly own companies in the Philippines for the first time; The Philippine Investment Agency has actively promoted the increase of tax incentives for power generation, energy storage and energy efficiency projects.Editor/Xing Wentao