Intensifying the Renewable

Philippine - German Policy Dialogue on

Renewable Energy

From left to right: Cates Maceda, moderator; Commissioner

Naderev Saño, of the Climate Change Commission;

 Representative Henedina R. Abad, Chairperson of the House

Committee on Energy,  House of Representatives;  Senator

Edgardo Angara, Chairperson of Senate Committee on Science &

Technology and Engineering; and Hans-Josef Fell, a member of

the German Parliament; Atty. Pedro H. Maniego Jr., Chairperson

of National Renewable Energy Board and Director Mario Marasigan

from the Department of Energy. (Photo provided)

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - The Department of Energy in cooperation with the Climate Change Commission, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Development Cooperation - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH held a high-level event titled Philippine - German Policy Dialogue on Renewable Energy  last February 14, 2013 at Shangri-La Hotel, Makati. The event brought together policy makers from Germany and the Philippines, the DOE, the National Renewable Energy Board and the Climate Change Commission to exchange information on how to intensify renewable energy development efforts and discuss the impact of policy solutions to nurture renewables and low-carbon, climate-friendly programs.

The Ambassador of the Republic of Germany to the Philippines, Dr. Joachim Heidorn, Senator Edgardo Angara, Chairperson of Senate Committee on Science & Technology and Engineering; Representative Henedina R. Abad, Chairperson of the House Committee on Energy,  House of Representatives; and Hans-Josef Fell, a member of the German Parliament; Commissioner Naderev Saño, of the Climate Change Commission; Atty. Pedro H. Maniego Jr., Chairperson of National Renewable Energy Board and Director Mario Marasigan from the Department of Energy were those who spoke in the dialogue.

Five years after the passing of the Renewable Energy Act in 2008, simultaneous introduction and implementation of several instruments to support renewable energies (RE) to meet the target of tripling the capacities of renewable energies of the country by 2030, as stated in the National Renewable Energy Plan (NREP), remain still a challenge.

“The Renewable Energy Act of 2008 provided the framework to accelerate the RE development. Now we have more than 300 applications for RE generation, but the power sector is still facing challenges in policies and investment. One example: some RE contracts require 132 signatures.These administrative challenges have to be addressed.” Director Mario Marasigan of DOE said.

There is still a need to have more focus and stronger push for the Renewable Energy (RE).

“The Philippines is slowly gearing up in terms of economic growth, however the RE could create local jobs for the development of the economy given the potentials of the country,” stated Senator Angara.

Representative Abad, emphasized that in terms of the benefits of RE, there is no more debate. “The real challenge is how to implement and how to make things happen. We are inspired by Germany.  What we need to discuss and explore, within ourselves and agencies, is what’s holding us back and how do we move forward.” Representative Abad said.

The event also placed a spotlight on Germany’s 20 years of effort to reach a successful and sustainable RE path. Germany has become a role model for many countries in setting up a supportive legal framework for Renewable Energy. Mr. Fell expressed that a nation can wean away from its dependence on finite resources for its energy needs such as fossil fuels, save money, generate revenue and jobs and make electricity available and affordable to more of its citizens by setting the right and appropriate policy framework conditions to successfully deploy Renewable Energy.

Unlike the Philippines, Mr. Fell shared that Germany did not allocate the Feed-In-Tariff to projects on a first come first serve basis. Hans-Josef Fell is the ‘father of the Renewable Energy Law in Germany’. He presented Germany experience in developing reneable energies and highlighted the importance of policy incentive schemes to accelerate renewable energy deployment.

“In Germany there were no limits placed on capacity. Thus, we allowed a rapid market development by allowing everyone to do it. The  investment in RE generation capacities is nearly 20-billion Euros, [of which] 90% came from new actors, such as small private cooperatives, only 10% were invested by companies or monopolies. Thus, every person can avail the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) and connect to the grid. This is the chance to overcome poverty given that every person has the opportunity to develop. There were 400,000 jobs created through RE. RE sector is now the second biggest industrial sector in Germany after the automotive industry,” stated Mr. Fell.

The German Renewable Energy Act (EEG) with feed-in tariffs for solar, wind and biomass energy among others highly contributed to the enormous increase of the production of electricity from renewable energy sources in Germany and quadrupled the share of renewable energies in the total electricity consumption from 1990 to 2010, which at the same time, reduced Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

The recommendations focused on the call for concerted efforts by relevant national agencies to push forward with the FiT and also implement policies and efforts for small scale solutions.

 “I don’t want the consumers to pay the burden of high rates, it’s a theory for RE. We all have to contend to the realities that we have high rates and let’s assume that we don’t want electricity to go up. Together with the NGOs, we are doing to the idea of socialized FIT for consumers who cannot pay the extra burden of offering the deficit that will be created in the FIT as a Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) at the international level.” Commissioner Saño stated.

“The end point we want to see is energy security, reliance and sufficiency for the environment and health. Let us work together to develop our institutional capabilities. Government needs to improve its regulatory and enforcement roles. How can we help Energy Regulatory Commission to come up with a more realistic policy and regulations. I don’t hear that much discussions regarding these,” Representative Abad further stated.

In addition, Senator Angara stated that aside from focusing on big investments under the FiT scheme, there should be opportunities for cooperatives or small entities to avail of the benefits of FIT. The development of RE technology should include also small players, then we would have bigger economic impacts and the people are included in the process.”

After the inspiring policy dialogue the panelists and Mr. Fell met with Philippine Ambassador to Germany Ms. Cleofe Natividad during a dinner of the German Embassy. Ms. Natividad expressed her support to RE development in the Philippines and her appreciation for the good Philippine-German cooperation.

The event highlights the importance of continuing knowledge exchange between policy and decision makers to strengthen strategic programs and initiatives to attain climate ready and smart policies and government actions in the Philippines.

This event is supported by GIZ through the project Support to the Climate Change Commission in the Implementation of the National Framework Strategy on Climate Change and the National Climate Change Action Plan with the Climate Change Commission and the Department of Energy as key partners. The project strengthens the Climate Change Commission in the enhancement, implementation and coordination of the national climate strategy and the National Climate Change Action Plan and their mainstreaming into the regular planning processes down to the sub-national level. Measures include the development of financing framework for climate relevant activities, and of an innovative monitoring system for impact of climate related activities.

At the local level, GIZ supports climate-smart local development planning and the implementation of pilot measures to enhance adaptation to climate change and mitigation of GHG-emissions. The implementation of the Renewable Energy Act will be supported through further development of the political frame conditions and technical capacities for production and feed-in of renewable energies to the grid.

The Project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) under its International Climate Initiative. The BMU supports this Initiative based on a decision of the German Parliament as part of Germany’s innovative contribution to global climate finance. For more information see http://www.international-climate-initiative.com.