MANILA, Philippines -- Amid the string of bad news over the soaring prices of oil is a piece of good news for the Philippines: It has potential renewable energy (RE) resources of 204,228 megawatts, according to a paper that has been submitted to the Senate.

Against the country's total energy installed capacity of 15,803 MW and its additional energy requirement between 2006 and 2014 of 4000 MW to 4350 MW, the amount of potential energy is simply staggering, said Catherine Maceda, a convenor of the Renewable Energy Coalition, in the document that senators could use as basis for their deliberations on the renewable energy bill.

Maceda listed down the potential for each RE type: geothermal, 4,531 MW; hydroelectric, 13,097 MW; wind, 76,600 MW; and ocean, 170,000 MW. Biomass can produce 277 measured in million barrels fuel oil equivalent (MBFOE) a year while solar power, some 5 to 5.1 KwH per square meter per day.

In a phone interview, Maceda said: "Developing only one type of renewable energy resource would be more than enough to provide the country's energy needs. And we can always sell to other countries any excess energy."

“Current geothermal capacity and pipeline will produce 3002 MW,” she said.

Senator Edgardo Angara, who is defending the bill at the Senate, said a wind pattern mapping by the United States government showed that the northeastern part of the country between Ilocos Norte and Aurora has one of the strongest in the world. "I am excited. In five years, we will make Aurora province a green province," he said.

But the RE potential can make the entire country green.

The bill seeks to provide incentives to grant fiscal incentives to eligible proponents, such as income tax holiday, a preferential realty tax rate, exemption from import duties, and reduction of the so-called government share.

Maceda said the bill provided these incentives only to new projects, so that government revenues from existing plants would not be affected.

"Furthermore, even with the incentives, new projects shall continue to pay some form of taxes. That is, RE projects will still be subject to real property taxes and will continue to pay the 'government share.' At the same time, the income tax holiday is time bound, meaning, it is limited to only six years," she said in the paper.

The incentives provision also has a "sunset" clause, granting such fiscal advantages only to the first 2,500 MW of eligible RE-based plants.

When the bill becomes law and the objectives of the law are met, it will result in foreign exchange savings of about $3.6 billion; this is related to 600 million kwH renewable energy production equivalent to one million barrels of oil. If 2,500 MW of RE is produced until 2014, the country will avoid the importation of 100 million barrels of oil.

As RE is inherently clean, its use will eventually result in another $400 million in savings that will otherwise go to programs protecting the environment and the people.

And with carbon trading already becoming attractive to many nations, the Philippines can trade in $166 million worth of clean air.

($1=P44.135)

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