Japanese firms bullish on PHL solar panel market
TOKYO — Japanese firms offering renewable energy systems see the Philippines as a good market given a steadily growing demand for power, although the high amount of investments needed remains a barrier to entry.
“The Philippines is a very good market for PVs [ photovoltaic panels] because you have many demand for power, you need much more electricity because the country is growing,” Ikumasa Kojima, senior manager for the Mitsubishi Electric Corp.’s (MEC) lighting, ventilation, home equipment & photovoltaic systems division, said on the sidelines of a tour at the company’s Smart House facility in Ofuna City Kanagawa Prefecture on Tuesday.
“You have the feed- in- tariff [ Fit] program, and the infrastructure in the Philippines is already being [ built].”
Under the Fit, renewable energy developers will sell their produced capacity to the national grid at a premium rate over 20 years as set by the Energy Regulatory Commission. This is separate from various fiscal incentives and tax breaks given to investors of renewable energy setting up shop in the Philippines.
Mr. Kojima, who also sits as chairperson for the international operations committee of the Japan Photovoltaic Energy Association, said Japanese companies engaged in solar power are bullish on the Philippines, in light of the rapid economic growth which the country has seen during the past years.
However, the high cost of making the shift towards Japanese solar energy systems — compared to its competition — stand in the way of expanding in the country.
“The main problem is how to get the financing needed for a solar project,” Mr. Kojima said. “The other problem for the Japanese market is the market price. The Chinese-manufactured systems are the majority because it’s much cheaper.”
The two-bedroom MEC Smart House is equipped with solar panels and a home energy management system (HEMS) to monitor power consumption.
The solar panels on the roof can power the home by up to 5.5 kilowatts ( Kwh) and can charge an electric car to full capacity. The system also allows residents to sell any excess supply they generate to the national grid.
Mr. Kojima said solar energy equipment can be used up to 25 years, with its users expected to feel the return in investments within 10 years as they are able to save utility costs and possibly generate income from selling their excess supply to the grid.
Mitsubishi’s HEMS makes use of an electric car as backup power for the home and lets people monitor consumption through a mobile app. Combined with other expenses for the system, total cost reaches roughly 5 million yen (about P2.29 million).
Since its launch in 2014, about 600 Japanese homes have adopted the entire HEMS package, which company officials said was well below target. However, a recent move by the government to allow other players apart from power generation firms to create and supply electricity is seen to prod increased usage of the home system.
So far, Mitsubishi has no plans of exporting the system amid foreseen constraints due to varying energy regulations across countries, particularly for connecting and selling capacities to national grid systems.
NO ELECTRIC CARS FOR PHL
The same concerns stand in the way of Mitsubishi’s plans to bring its fleet of electric cars to the Philippines, despite increasing global interest on sustainable and environmentfriendly solutions.
In a separate press briefing, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. chief executive officer Osamu Masuko said the electric cars are far from being launched in the Philippines as of the moment.
“There’s going to come a time when we are going to introduce the electric vehicle in the Philippines. We have to establish the infrastructure and address the [ high] price. We can’t do that immediately,” Mr. Masuko told reporters in a translated news conference.
The Japanese car maker currently produces four electric and hybrid- powered vehicles, namely the Outlander plug- in hybrid, the i- Miev ( Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle) compact car, the Minicab Miev, and the Minicab-MiEV Truck, but are not distributed in the Philippines.
Yoshiaki Kato, president and chief executive officer of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp., said the company is eyeing to import the fuel-run Outlander to the Philippines “sometime next year,” but the electric version has yet to be studied to consider price and infrastructure.