‘Philippines unlikely to meet RE targets by 2030’

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January 23, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines may fall short of its clean energy targets as persistent grid bottlenecks and permitting challenges continue to slow progress, according to S&P Global.

Vince Heo, director for Asia-Pacific Power and Renewables Research at S&P Global, said the share of renewables in the Philippines’ power mix could reach just 27 percent by 2030.

This is significantly below the government’s target of 35 percent under the Philippine Energy Plan 2023-2050.

“We are making a forecast. In our own view, it’s not, based on our base case,” Heo said in a recent interview, pointing to the “big gap” that must be bridged to meet the national targets.

In particular, he noted that the country’s transmission network could face challenges in integrating the influx of renewable energy (RE) sources.

The intermittent nature of solar and other variable RE facilities, combined with insufficient energy storage, could strain the grid, he said.

“We are running the software to see whether the system balance could be met or not, and it’s clearly not in the Philippines. You don’t have good grid planning here,” Heo stressed.

The limited availability of interconnection points continues to pose challenges to RE developers, as several awarded service contracts are located far from existing transmission lines.

This has caused significant delays and, in some cases, the unfortunate termination of contracts.

As such, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines is pushing for a “holistic solution” to address challenges across the country’s power supply chain.

The development in all involved sectors should be “coordinated, with due attention given to each,” NGCP said.

Beyond grid challenges, the S&P Global official also highlighted the need to further simplify the permitting process in the Philippines.

“That’s the number one priority,” Heo said.

In the Philippines, before developers can start building power plants, they must first secure numerous permits from various levels of government, from national agencies down to local authorities.

In offshore wind development, for instance, over 80 permits currently stand in the way of developers, with the process typically involving more than 25 agencies.

At the current rate, Heo warned, the Philippines is likely to reach only 50 percent RE share by 2050, way below the 65 percent goal set under the government’s clean energy scenario.

Renewables currently account for 25 percent of the country’s power mix, with coal still dominating at around 60 percent.