Philippines

Energy efficiency, electrification of heating and transport, and the provision of clean cooking facilities are all going in the wrong direction as the Covid crisis deprived millions in sub-Saharan Africa of electricity use, according to a report by the IEA, IRENA, WHO, World Bank and UN Statistics Division.

Australia’s Star Scientific has signed a deal with the Department of Energy in the Philippines to use its hydrogen tech. The partnership could see Star Scientific transform every coal-fired power plant in the nation to green hydrogen, while also using the tech to provide desalinated water.

The private-sector arm of the World Bank, which claims to leverage $3 of its own capital and $8 from third parties for every dollar invested in its blended finance funds, has attempted to quantify what devoting Covid recovery funds to green investment would mean for emerging economies.

Solar Philippines is planning to deploy several unsubsidized solar plants in the provinces of Batangas, Cavite, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac.

The renewables business is set to acquire the SN Power hydropower operator belonging to Norwegian state-owned private equity business Norfund, with the $1.17 billion deal expected to go through in the first half of the new year. Scatec said the transaction could offer floating solar opportunities.

Doubling down on renewable energy investment and energy transition spending is required to ensure a truly green global recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and its economic aftershock, claims the International Renewable Energy Agency.

There are at least three PV projects exceeding 1 GW in size that are now under review in the Philippines, according to data from the country’s Department of Energy

Plus, details have been revealed of a 2 MW/2.5 MWh grid scale storage demo project in Switzerland and for a peer-to-peer renewable energy certificate marketplace in Southeast Asia.

The country’s National Irrigation Administration will bet on floating PV and solar-powered irrigation to improve water and energy supply. The Pantabangan and Casecnan dams, in the province of Nueva Ecija in the Central Luzon region, have been identified as ideal locations for floating solar.

Up to 150 GW of PV and wind projects could be postponed or canceled throughout the Asia-Pacific region by 2024 if the coronavirus-triggered recession continues beyond the current year, according to new research by Wood Mackenzie.