President Benigno Aquino III and Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, will lead the launch of the National Renewable Energy Program tomorrow to mark the country’s continued pursuit for energy security through, this time, the utilization of renewable energy resources.

The formulation of the program is also a result of the promulgation of Republic Act No. 9513, or the "Renewable Energy Act of 2008," the rationale of which is borne of the need to utilize the wide-ranging resources in the country.

The NREP is a program anchored on the broader context of indigenous energy resource development as espoused in the Philippine Energy Plan and the Energy Reform Agenda.

While the PEP is the blueprint of the government’s energy plans and programs, it is also equally important that the Power Development Plan is also aligned with the NREP objectives.

In a 2009 document, the country’s current primary energy mix shows a self-sufficiency level of about 58 percent with RE comprising 42.8 percent of the indigenous resources.

Major contributors to the higher self-sufficiency level from renewables include hydropower, geothermal, and biomass energy.

With the NREP in place, RE-based power capacity of the country is seen to increase by as much as 15,236.3 MW by 2030.

Current RE-level capacity is pegged at 5,369 MW. Power generation will be the initial focus of the program while non-power applications will be incorporated as the technology becomes available.

The Department of Energy emphasizes the need for the NREP as it will outline national RE targets and trajectories in the country’s energy and power mix for the short- and long-term.

It will also establish a framework for existing and planned policies for the promotion of RE and a roadmap which will guide efforts toward actualizing the market penetration targets of each RE resource in the country.

For a country reliant on imported energy sources, these developments signal a fairly dramatic shift towards greater energy independence.

With the utilization of RE sources finally gaining more interest, the DOE needs only to entice more investors in the country to harness the vast resources that it already has.

Close to 400 RE advocates, including members of the diplomatic corps, legislators and policy-makers, non-government organizations, RE developers, energy sector stakeholders, community leaders and members of the research and scientific communities are expected to attend this event.*PNA

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