SOLAR panels are not solely for wide, open spaces as these can be installed in strategic locations in megacities like Metro Manila, where lack of space is a major concern in providing city dwellers easy access to renewable energy (RE).
At a news briefing on the sidelines of the Clean Energy Forum held from June 4 to 8 at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Headquarters in Manila, International Energy Agency (IEA) chief economist Laszlo Varro cited the use of solar panels in dense urban centers in China.
Varro said these solar panels are placed on rooftops of homes and business establishments, thus giving populated areas in China’s eastern regions access to affordable and reliable RE.
“Instead of using agricultural land, put solar panels on top of factories, put solar panels on top of their houses, on top of call centers and so on. This is something [that] has been successful in the eastern regions of China, something that Southeast Asian countries could also consider,” Varro said.
Solar Philippines Founder and Chief Executive Officer Leandro Leviste also shared his company’s efforts to test floating solar panels on the surface of Laguna Lake in the third quarter.
Leviste said the100-kilowatt pilot project technical test aims to determine whether the floating solar panels can withstand 250-km-per-hour winds that are common in the country during the typhoon season.
He said Solar Philippines chose Laguna Lake because there will be no need to invest heavily on transmission lines as it is near Metro Manila. The lake is also shallow enough to become an accessible location for the pilot.
He said if the project will be successful, there will be no need to use more agricultural lands for power generation in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica Limpia Founder and Director Monica Araya said small countries like the Philippines can also take inspiration from other middle-income countries, and not only from big countries such as China, the US and India, to find clean-energy solutions, whether technology or financial.
Araya said Manila can use clean-energy solutions, particularly for transportation, as well as cheaper sources of electricity.
She cited Chile, which has been very successful with solar power, even without subsidies, subsequently bringing down the cost of its electricity rates.
“We can’t just put all the attention on the big countries because most of the countries in the world are not big. And being small doesn’t mean thinking small,” Araya said.
“We should also put more light into middle-income countries, such as the ones in Latin America and the ones in other [regions]. The Philippines is a very good example,” she added.
ADB Chief of Energy Sector Group Yongping Zhai said it is important for the private sector to participate in the clean-energy movement since government cannot be the sole source of clean-energy funding.
Zhai said countries need entrepreneurs to create innovations and offer the public more green choices, which can bring down energy costs.
Leviste said the Philippines can easily save P200 billion a year, or P1,000 per Filipino family on average per month, if renewables are given fair treatment by the government.
He said that, while Meralco’s generation charge has reached P6 per kilowatt-hour “all in,” Leviste’s generation charge was only P2.99 per kilowatt hour.
“We are a few steps away from Meralco, a company that currently has seven coal power plant contracts that are up for ERC [Energy Regulatory Commission] approval. If those coal power plants push through, it will push out all new generation for the next five years in the Philippines,” Leviste said.
Meanwhile, ADB Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development Vice President Bambang Susantono said energy demand is projected to almost double in the Asia-Pacific region by 2030.
He said the ADB estimates that the region has to invest $14.7 trillion in power infrastructure between 2016 and 2030 to meet this growing demand.
This will be used for rapid and rapidly expanding deployment of advanced technologies such as photovoltaics, battery storage, electric vehicles and smart grids that highlight progress in global energy systems.
These will help the region move toward meeting not only Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 7 that focuses on energy, but also supporting SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, as well SDG 13 on climate action.
“The energy technology landscape will continue to evolve; the ADB pledges to be an active partner managing this change and accelerating innovation for sustainable development in the region through innovative financing, partnerships and institutional capacity building. We ensure there are innovative elements in all our energy projects,” Susantono said.
Cohosted by the ADB, the United States Agency for International Development, the Korea Energy Agency, and the ADB Institute, the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2018 was held under the theme “Harnessing Innovation to Power the Future.”
It brings together over 1,000 participants from more than 50 countries, including entrepreneurs, policy-makers, financial institutions, nongovernment organizations and academia.
ACEF began in 2006 as an annual event to provide a platform for collaboration in promoting clean energy in Asia and the Pacific.
Some of the topics discussed during the weeklong event included future energy innovations such as energy in buildings, RE in urban settings, decentralized power grids, health and environmental benefits of energy efficiency, clean cooking, new business models, and digital transformation and innovations.
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