QUEZON CITY – The Department of Energy (DOE) expressed its appreciation yesterday (13 February) for all the technical and financial assistance extended by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) to the Philippines at the culmination event of the Support to the Philippines in Shaping and Implementing the International Climate Regime (SupportCCC II) Project held at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi stated, “For three consecutive years, the Philippines ranked first among 125 countries in terms of energy environmental sustainability. This couldn’t have been achieved without the strong collaboration among the different Philippine government agencies, as well as the technical and funding support from our international partners, like GIZ.”
The event featured presentations on the project’s major accomplishments with key implementation partners, the way forward to further enhance the country’s climate policy, lessons and capacity building measures in the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and the partnerships built among key stakeholders to ensure synergy in succeeding climate actions.
Sec. Cusi added that GIZ played an instrumental role in enriching renewable energy (RE) deployment and utilization in the Philippines.
Since the project’s inception in 2015, SupportCCC II has continually provided extensive technical assistance to the DOE and other relevant government agencies, such as the Climate Change Commission (CCC) and the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, to further develop the national climate change policy.
Focusing on RE innovations, it has helped the Philippines learn the management of increasing amounts of variable RE (vRE) and adapt power planning with the mega trends happening globally, and facilitated capacity building for energy stakeholders, such as the grid operator and the distribution utilities, on the grid integration of vRE.
A high-level delegation visit to Germany was also arranged through the project, where decision makers learned about the grid and market integration of vRE. They also witnessed first-hand, the positive outcome of utilities’ learning to manage increasing amounts of RE over time, as evidenced by the 40 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 40 GW of wind power currently installed in the German system having only 11 minutes of annual down time.
In addition, relevant studies were also conducted which included an assessment of the power planning process, a policy review of the Feed-in-Tariff and net-metering for RE, a cost-benefit analysis of the power sector using the RE country diagnostic tool, and an analysis of the Negros solar situation.
The closing activity was attended by DOE Spokesperson Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella, Director Mario C. Marasigan, Officer-in-Charge of the DOE-Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, key officials from the Climate Change Commission and other government agencies, civil society groups, and members of the academe.
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