If you are looking for financial viable energy projects, the possibilities for ventures on renewable energy are expansive in the Philippines. They could come from sources that are naturally recurring and may be replenished such as geothermal, water, wind, sunlight, and tide. These sources are tapped through the use of enhanced technologies to generate solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and tidal power. The government promotes ecologically sound renewable energy to get the much-needed boost to reduce local dependence on fossil fuels.

The Philippines is one of the largest producers of geothermal energy in the world and perhaps second only to the United States of America in terms of installed capacity due to its location within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. Sprawled through its islands are volcanoes, hot springs, fumaroles, and areas that spurt sulfurous gasses and steam.

The seemingly endless wind power across the archipelago could be converted to wind energy, which in turn could be transformed into consumable electricity. Today’s wind turbines use blades that are rotated by the wind’s kinetic energy. These blades are connected to drive shafts that propel electric generators to produce electricity. Potential sites for wind power are in Batanes, Babuyan Islands, Ilocos Norte, Mindoro, Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Palawan, Panay, Negros Islands, among others.

The Philippines do not claim monopoly of tapping solar power but being in a tropical setting with continuous sunlight throughout the whole year, the country is on spot to maximize its energy potential. It has already benefited with the aggressive expansion of SunPower Philippines that invested about Php27 billion on its second solar cell manufacturing site in the country.

Given its archipelagic landscape and wide coastlines, the country has unmatched potential for generating tidal power where its estimated theoretical capacity is about 170,000 MW. The initial list of these identified areas includes the Hinatuan Passage, Camarines, Northeastern Samar, Surigao, Batan Island, Catanduanes, Tacloban, San Bernardino Strait, Babuyan Island, Ilocos Norte, Siargao Island, and Davao Oriental.

To date, the total installed capacity of the Philippines’ power generating plants is recorded at 15,937 megawatts. Although coal-fired power plants reflect 26% of power generation followed by oil-based at 23%, the renewable sources such as hydro, natural gas, and geothermal now account for 21%, 18%, and 12% respectively. In the industrial horizon, the wind and solar-based sources are evolving and in the future, could progress from its current share of 1%.

With its growing industrial demand, the Philippines still needs an additional 4,000 to 4,350 megawatts to sustain its national requirements. This is why power projects using renewable energy sources continue to be preferred activities in the 2009 Investments Priorities Plan (IPP). This means that a wider scale of tax and non-tax incentives could be provided to investors.