PHL-Indonesia energy agreement should focus on RE — think tank

ENHANCED energy cooperation between the Philippines and Indonesia should focus on exploring for renewable energy (RE), an energy think tank said.

“Both countries have high potential for renewable energy and would be served better by a renewable energy MoU (memorandum of understanding) that would facilitate cooperation to tap these clean energy sources instead of extending the current fossil fuel-dominated energy sector,” Gerry C. Arances, executive director for Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development, said in a Viber message.

On Wednesday, the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Indonesia signed an MoU to facilitate the flow of coal and gas during supply shocks.

“On the part of the Philippines, it is an offshoot of our President’s effort to achieve higher energy security through energy diplomacy,” Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said.

According to the DoE, the MoU also covered “potential benefits across economic, environmental and geopolitical dimensions on energy transition, renewable energy, demand-side management, electric vehicles, and alternative fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, and biofuels.”

Mr. Arances said that the MoU “is not a cause for celebration but instead a cause for reflection.”

“Why is our own government ignoring our 1,511-gigawatt renewable energy potential, enough to power the country’s grid many times over, to pursue costly and destructive fossil fuels?,” he asked.

RE accounted for about 22% of the Philippines’ energy mix, with coal-fired power plants generating nearly 60% of energy needs in 2022.

The government is aiming to increase the RE share of the Philippine energy mix to 35% by 2030 and to 50% by 2040.

Terry L. Ridon, a public investment analyst and convenor of think tank InfraWatch PH said Jakarta should make “an unqualified commitment of unimpeded coal exports to the Philippines, respecting supply commitments to recipient coalfired power plants around the country.”

“This ensures, more than sufficiency of supply, certainty of pricing, which will prevent a repeat of escalating coal prices in the past,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

In September, Mr. Lotilla said the Philippines has received assurances from Indonesia of continued access to the latter’s coal exports.

The DoE estimated that the Philippines imported 30.51 million metric tons of coal in 2021, accounting for about 98% of its demand. —