The Philippines is one of the world’s top producers of geothermal power, as it is located along the Ring

of Fire zone of Pacific volcanoes. However, in 2018, the country dropped in the global rankings for
geothermal countries, just behind Indonesia. This prompted the Philippines to consider revamping its
geothermal development again. In June 2018, the country launched a new string of exploration surveys,
which is an addition to roughly 10 contracts with power companies on geothermal exploration,
according to Think GeoEnergy, a geothermal news and research site. The Philippines currently has seven
geothermal fields which supply about 12 percent of the nation’s energy, with a long-term plan to nearly
double capacity by 2040. Targeting geothermal, the Philippines Department of Energy has set targets for
geothermal power generation capacity additions … short term 183 MW (2016-2020), 900 MW in the
medium-term (2021 to 2025), and 288 MW in the long-term (2026 to 2030). The total objective to be
reached by 2030 is 1,371 MW in added capacity (correlating with a total installed capacity of around
3,200 MW). With that the Philippines would reach a level that comes somewhat close to the current top
1 country, the United States that has today an installed of around 3,676 MW. With ambitious
development plans elsewhere, the Philippines would though find it hard to remain in its no. 3 position it
holds today. However, despite the potential of geothermal resources in the Philippines, there are still a
number of factors contributing to a decline in investments: unattractive incentives package compared to
other countries, a privatised energy sector, tedious permitting processes and a lack of potential
investors who are willing to take the risk. Although geothermal energy is theoretically free, finding the
resource is an expensive enterprise, with exploration wells costing up to US$8 million each with no
guarantee of success. Geothermal trailblazer and leading renewable energy company, Energy
Development Corporation (EDC) believes that geothermal is the key to establishing a stable energy
baseload suited to the constant yet dynamic power needs of the Philippines’ developing economy.
Perhaps, geothermal might be the answer to the Philippines’ goal of cutting carbon emissions by 70
percent by 2030. In reports from this week, its seems the outlook is though not as bright with a new low
in renewable power generation only 21% in 2019. With that the National Renewable Energy Board is
looking at a review of its renewable energy program. The country is way behind its 15,000 MW by 2030
target. With around 35% of the energy mix in 2008 when the renewable energy legislation was passed, it
gradually decreased to 25.6% in 2014, 24.2% in 2016 and now to 21%. The overall renewable energy
power generation capacity stood at 5,438 MW in 2010 (with about 35% represented by geothermal)
with a target of 15,000 MW by 2030. So proposals are made to increase the target to 20,000 MW to
realistically reach the set energy mix targets. With a focus on mostly solar capacity (15,000 MW), wind
3,000 MW, hydro 1,000 MW, geothermal (and biomass) would see an increase of only 500 MW each.
This is naturally far off from the targets initially set by the Department of Energy in the Philippines. So
industry expectations and the now rather old and outdated targets need to be revisited.