Philippines

The coronavirus epidemic continues to batter the global economy, including the solar industry, but falling demand during lockdowns has brought negative energy prices as well as helping drive record solar generation, amid less-polluted skies.

The government is planning to introduce a procurement regime this year which the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis says could drive the price of clean electricity as low as PHP3/kWh. It is thought projects which missed the feed-in tariff scheme deadline will be eligible to compete in the auctions.

PV systems have helped farmers in the Philippines become less dependent on rain. Projects in Camarines Sur have shown pumping water with solar is not only cheap but can also raise rice yield.

WEnergy was celebrating the commissioning of its solar-diesel-storage off-grid network on the island of Palawan. Four more networks could come online within two years, said the developer, as part of a planned 15 microgrids in the nation.

The government of the Philippines will spend $500 million on solar-powered water supply and desalination in remote areas of Mindanao, the second-largest island in the archipelago. Elsewhere, a Finnish study has suggested drought-hit Iran could benefit from renewable-powered desalination.

In a bid to reduce its carbon footprint the oil giant is ramping up its renewable energy production at a refinery in the Philippines. The news was announced by the company in a week which saw it named seventh worst corporate contributor to the climate crisis since awareness of emissions-related damage first emerged.

Bacolod is expected to host its first large scale PV project within a year after domestic renewables firm Amatera signed a deal with Korean business TPC Construction Corp.

The power company has launched three procurement auctions for a total of 2.9 GW of power generation capacity. Renewable energy companies are among the bidders to have expressed interest in providing electricity.

An EU funded solar-plus-storage project has been tendered in the Philippines. The United Nations is seeking bids for the system, to support the seaweed industry on the island of Tawi-Tawi. Combining PV with aquaculture brings many advantages for both, including water conservation, a more controlled aquatic environment, and ecosystem restoration.

An investor tool examining the coal fleets of major global power companies has offered up analysis which flies in the face of arguments solar and wind generation could help turn around the debt-saddled South African utility.