Solar energy is proven as one of the most promising energy sources. It has established a wide use in the global energy mix. Despite its potential and proven benefits over the years, the Philippines is lagging behind in policy implementation and deployment. Meanwhile, Southeast Asian countries are already counting years embracing solar power. Urgent implementation of solar energy as the country’s power source opens up opportunities in economic, energy and environmental reasons.
Utilizing solar energy is one way to decrease dependence in fossil fuel. As we all know, it is limited and exhaustible. The supply of petroleum comes from the Middle East where the movement of their economy and even the conflicts in its various parts affect the local price adversely.
With more renewable energy (RE), it is to the country’s advantage to become less exposed to external risks and dependence to foreign oil. Sunlight is accessible to either poor or rich countries — reducing geo-political conflicts.
As mentioned, sunlight is accessible to anyone; solar technologies are tried, tested and proven worldwide. In 2012, solar power installations in Asia soared to the highest growth across all regions at 66%. Solar technologies supply less than 1% of electricity demand in Tokyo. This gives immense opportunities for new investments in clean power sources.
It also creates jobs by increasing solar deployment, not just mainly in manufacturing or the electronics industry, but also on the installation and maintenance aspects. Additionally, the workforce can also be trained for installation of utility-scale solar power plants.
Going solar is affordable and cheap. The average price of 300 kWh consumption in a household only costs P1 a month. Feed-in Tariff, a system designed to encourage the investment and use of renewable energy resources, allows a fixed pricing for solar electricity for 20 years. Meanwhile, the prices of power from fossil fuels continue to inflate and remain volatile.
The heavy dependency of the world to fossil fuels makes everything about oil or coal usage. Climate change is also noticeable over the years giving tendency to look for cleaner, more environment-friendly energy sources. Philippines made a big move on passing the RE law and hopefully, be implemented sooner. The country should take the time to immediately consider RE to be able to reap the rewards sooner.
Implementation of solar power source means a lot of benefits; quicker solution to limited power source, millions of pesos in investment and savings, thousands of job opportunities and a cleaner environment.
