ADB to fund energy projects under Aquino administration

The Asian Development Bank has pledged to finance $1 billion of the country's energy efficiency and renewable program in the next five years and is now waiting for the administration of President-elect Benigno Aquino III to flesh out which projects should be considered priorities, an ADB official said Wednesday. The financing would provide about 1,000 megawatts of combined renewable and energy efficiency projects, said ADB Principal Energy Specialist for Southeast Asia Sohail Hasnie. "We have worked with your government and agencies and we are looking at financing up to a billion dollars with our co-financing partners for the Philippines on its energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, Hasnie said. "We are waiting for the new government/administration for us to engage and align our priorities with their priorities," he added. ADB would be working with the Finance Department and the National Economic Development Authority to identify recipients of the financing. A feasibility study could start in a few months to make way for the project's implementation at the end of 2011. "If your government will agree, we can do a five-year tranche," he said, noting that renewable energy development has strong growth potential in the country. The country's high tariff on electricity needs a good regulatory framework, and the abundance of renewable energy resources and the country's oil imports are necessary parameters for promoting renewable energy, according to Hasnie. Hasnie said the Philippines should reduce its reliance on imported fossil fuel by saving energy and looking at alternative and indigenous sources such as hydro, wind, geothermal and solar energies. "We are looking at some hydropower and wind in that portfolio. Maybe we will work with the private sector," Hasnie said. ADB said it has received a $125-million support from the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund for a 100-megawatt solar power project in the Philippines but negotiations are not yet final. "We have been discussing with [the Philippine] government to do a large scale solar power project [that would provide up to] 100 megawatts [of power] in the Philippines. [These] investments will [materialize] and other investors will come in to augment [them]," he said. ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda, meanwhile, said there are many low carbon technologies that can bring impressive benefits to the Asia Pacific Region. "But due to many barriers, from price to intellectual property concerns, these technologies are not being used in the region. Bringing down these barriers is the next challenge. Connected to that is the funding that will be needed to actually deploy these technologies," he said. —VS, GMANews.TV