IN contrast to the previous administration, the Duterte government has appeared to be more proactive toward renewable energy (RE), initiating a number of programs that ostensibly encourage investment in RE, and have the stated intention of increasing the share of RE in the nation's energy mix. However, taking a closer look at current policy and the reluctant manner in which new issues are addressed may very well lead one to conclude that the present administration's "RE strategy" is what some critics say it is, a great deal of virtue-signaling without much practical substance.
There are examples of this in every form of RE. A Manila Times editorial last week (August 26) touched on one of those, geothermal energy. Another that has come up in recent conversations in biomass energy, for which the Philippines has a treasure in resources beyond the dreams of Croesus, but which is being pointedly ignored by policymakers.
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