In 2005, electricity generation reached 53.7 billion kilowatt hours. Thermal generation, mostly from natural gas, fuel, oil and coal, accounted for 68 percent of total electricity production, followed by hydropower (15 percent) and other sources (17 percent). According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), total electricity consumption, 47 billion kilowatt hours, accounted for 12 percent of the Philippines’ final energy consumption in 2005. Currently only 1.4 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity is connected to the grid. This capacity is mostly used to energize rural villages and for “off-grid” electrifications under the Expanded Rural Electrification Program. Renewable energy resources are estimated to have a power generation potential of more than 250,000 megawatts (MW), with geothermal energy contributing the largest share. A primary goal of the Philippines is to become the world’s largest producer and consumer of geothermal energy for power generation.
In February 2007, the Philippine National Oil Company- Energy Development Corporation’s first merchant power plant (49.37 MW) started its commercial operations providing additional power capacity for the Visayas grid. Plans for the Nasulo Geothermal Power Project in Palinpinon and the Mindanao III in Mt. Apo, North Cotabato are already in order, with the plants expected to be online in 2008 and 2011, respectively. As of 2006, the Philippines’ total installed capacity was approximately 2,257 MW. The government has identified 70 hydropower projects with a potential capacity of 2,603.5 MW. Currently there are 14 mini-hydropower projects with completed feasibility studies, expected to provide an additional 237.56 MW to existing capacity.
The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development is a study on the historical experience of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) in countries that are in the midst of transforming the industrial organization of their electric power sectors. The study seeks to explain the patterns of investment in IPPs and the variation in IPP experiences. The aim is not only to assess the historical record accurately but also to chart possible future paths for the IPP mode of power sector investment.
The Philippines occupies a unique position in the global experience with energy sector reform and independent power producers. The Philippine experience with IPPs has been ongoing for almost sixteen years, and has spanned a time period that includes distinct energy regulatory regimes and an ever-changing legal environment for foreign capital. Since the first contract for independent generation in 1988, the government of the Philippines has signed contracts with more than forty other IPPs, and by 1994 had more IPP contracts than the rest of the developing world combined.
