January 1, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The country’s power supply is expected to receive a significant boost from new projects with a combined capacity of 1,912.48 megawatts (MW) that are slated for the first half of 2025.
According to Department of Energy (DOE) data obtained by The STAR, renewable energy (RE) projects accounted for around 992.94 MW or more than half of total committed projects between January and June this year.
Committed projects refer to those that have secured financial closure or are already in construction stages.
The development of these new RE facilities aligns well with the government’s target of scaling up the share of renewables in the power generation mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040, from the current 22 percent.
However, a key challenge with renewables is their intermittency, as they generate power based on natural conditions.
For instance, solar panels only produce electricity when the sun is shining, while wind turbines only operate when there is sufficient wind.
This highlights the need for complementary energy sources and battery energy storage system (BESS) facilities to ensure grid stability and reliability.
The DOE said conventional sources like natural gas, coal and oil are set to provide about 609.54 MW of additional capacity to the grid in the first six months of 2025.
BESS projects with a total capacity of 310 MW, meanwhile, are expected to come onstream during the period.
A BESS facility stores excess electricity generated during low-demand periods and supplies it back to the grid during peak demand.
In terms of locations, about eight in every 10 committed projects this year are being developed in Luzon, with the rest distributed across the Visayas and Mindanao.
If successfully delivered on time, these new generation facilities will likely power at least one million homes annually, providing a much-needed boost to meet the country’s growing power demand.
The DOE has expressed confidence that the country has a sufficient power supply to cater to the projected demand next year.
“No potential alert notices for all grids,” the agency stated in the Power Outlook 2025 provided to The STAR.
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