THE PHILIPPINES will need around $3.9 trillion in investment to unlock the potential of its hydropower resources, according to the PhilHydro Association, Inc.
Speaking to reporters last week, PhilHydro President Gertrude V. Roque said the country’s potential hydropower capacity has been estimated at 650 gigawatts.
Ms. Roque said, however, that not all sites are accessible, making hydropower development “very costly, difficult, risky.”
She said that developing a facility that could generate one megawatt (MW) of capacity costs between $5 million and $6 million.
Hydropower facilities generate electricity from the natural flow of moving water. The type varies depending on the capacity, water resources, and design of harnessing electricity. This includes impounding hydro, run-of-river hydro, and pumped storage hydro.
Ms. Roque cited the need for a balance of hydropower technologies to effectively support and stabilize the grid.
“We really need to look into the capacities that we need to build for each type of these hydro projects,” she said.
The Philippines is also banking on hydropower to increase the share of renewable energy in the national power mix to 35% by 2030 and 50% by 2040.
Since the signing of the Renewable Energy Act in 2009, the Philippines has installed 337.872 MW of capacity. For this year, an additional 22.864 MW was injected to the grid.
“Water… can be the backbone of our energy security and stability, working in synergy with biomass, geothermal, solar, ocean, wind, and other renewable energy technologies,” Energy Secretary Sharon S. Garin has said.
Ms. Garin said hydropower can also serve as critical infrastructure for disaster mitigation, as reservoirs and water management actively control river flows and mitigate flash floods. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera