The Department of Energy is looking for partners to develop clean energy sources such as hydrogen and ammonia fuel in its quest for a green energy future.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said in a recent forum “partnerships that would enable the country on the proper application of hydrogen in the Philippine setting is welcome.”
He said the DOE created the Hydrogen and Fusion Energy Committee in November 2021 to explore hydrogen as a viable alternative and cleaner energy source and other beneficial applications for the country.
“Hydrogen is touted as the future of low-carbon energy system. Its use in power generation and transportation is already well-established,” he said.
Lotilla said the remaining obstacles to its widespread adoption are the costs of manufacturing green hydrogen and the issues related to transporting hydrogen.
“We should keep abreast with these, and already begin to map out policies for the quick integration into our energy mix once breakthroughs happen at a fast phase,” the energy chief said.
Lotilla said fresh ammonia could also be readily produced from green hydrogen through existing processes.
“Once green hydrogen becomes cost-effective, converting it to ammonia provides a natural pathway for the utilization of hydrogen. The logistics supply chain for ammonia has been established in advanced countries,” he said.
“The added benefit of hydrogen and ammonia is our potential to locally produce them using renewable energy, and possibly the production of needed fertilizer for the agriculture sector [ammonia being the chief feedstock for fertilizers],” Lotilla said.
He said the key priorities of the government are to promote and accelerate the development and use of renewable energy, implement energy efficiency and conservation measures and foster private sector participation.
“The use of greener energy sources is becoming the trend in the global energy landscape. Industrialized economies have pledged to prioritize energy transition strategies to shift from a low-carbon economy to a net-zero or carbon-neutral society,” he said.
Lotilla said a low-carbon economy remains an ambitious goal for a developing country like the Philippines with scarce resources, as achieving it requires substantial capital investments, tighter policies and regulations and the deployment of next-generation technologies.
“Given these aspects, the government is asserting a more gradual transition, as there is a narrow line to be crossed between balancing economic growth and consumer welfare while still pursuing our sustainable environmental goals,” he said.
Lotilla said one of the major strategies is to increase RE share in the power generation mix to 35 percent by 2030 and at least 50 percent by 2040.
The goal can be achieved by realizing around 1,000 RE projects with awarded service contracts as of September 2022, with an aggregate potential capacity of around 64.8 gigawatts.
The DOE will also continue implementing pertinent policies and programs to implement the RE Law further, he said.
These include the National Renewable Energy Program, Renewable Portfolio Standards, Green Energy Auction Program, Green Energy Option Program and Net-Metering Program.
