Meralco tops renewable energy supply goal

MANILA  -Power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has so far contracted 1,880 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy capacity from its suppliers as it works to boost its clean energy portfolio in compliance with requirements set by the Department of Energy (DOE).

In a statement, Meralco said this capacity had already breached the company’s initial target of 1,500 MW in support of the DOE’s Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) policy. RPS is a market-based framework that requires power suppliers to source a portion of their electricity requirements from renewable energy to accelerate the national government’s goal of increasing the share of renewables in the Philippine energy mix from the current 22 percent to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

Earlier this year, the DOE doubled the increment of renewable energy installations in the main grid under the RPS policy to 2.52 percent. This means that the increase in the share of renewables in the supply portfolio of distribution utilities must have a growth rate of 2.52 percent annually.

“We will continue to elevate and evolve our sustainability initiatives as we implement our long-term sustainability strategy that involves the adoption of next-generation clean technologies and deep decarbonization efforts,” said Meralco first vice president and chief sustainability officer Raymond Ravelo.

The company first introduced its sustainability agenda in 2019 under the “power, planet, people and prosperity” pillars. As for power generation, Meralco said Meralco PowerGen Corp. had earmarked P18 billion to boost its clean energy capacity by at least 2 gigawatts by 2030 from the current 200 MW.