In a rising variety of growing nations, the push in the direction of clear vitality is finally a wrestle over land use.
Utility-scale photo voltaic and wind farms want at the least 10 instances extra land per unit of energy produced in comparison with coal- and gas-fired energy vegetation, in keeping with report by McKinsey.
Addressing land rights is important for photo voltaic builders in Southeast Asia, as the vast majority of the area’s accessible land is primarily utilised for agriculture.
In archipelagos just like the Philippines, nonetheless, floating photovoltaic (FPV) programs could floor as a possible answer within the vitality transition – though not with out ecological and social dangers flagged by civil society organisations.
Floating photo voltaic – which entails mounting photovoltaic panels on the floor of water our bodies comparable to lakes, reservoirs, industrial ponds and coastal areas – could possibly be a “central pillar in Southeast Asia’s vitality future,” mentioned suppose tank Rystad Vitality in a examine.
“[The Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand] have appropriate pure circumstances – like remoted our bodies of water and naturally-occurring ponds – that make FPV viable to put in, in addition to reservoirs and hydropower dams which are [also] best for FPV installations,” Tristan Pheh, an analyst at Rystad Vitality, instructed Eco-Enterprise.
Pheh added that whereas international locations like Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar nonetheless have loads of area to develop ground-mounted photo voltaic earlier than committing to a big floating photo voltaic push, the Philippines has scarce land that may be allotted for photo voltaic farms with out encroaching on farmland and conservation areas.
Southeast Asia at present solely has a complete of about 500 megawatts (MW) in operational FPV tasks, however that capability is anticipated to swell by 300 MW in early 2024 alone. Between 2014 and 2020, the world’s put in FPV capability has elevated greater than 250-fold, notes non-profit Discussion board for the Future’s Accountable Vitality Initiative Philippines report.
“At the moment, the Philippines doesn’t have a lot [installed] FPV in comparison with different Asean international locations, however the Philippine authorities has proven optimistic assist in the direction of accelerating giant [floating solar] tasks which may result in a increase in FPV capability this decade,” Pheh added.
With quite a few tasks within the pipeline, FPV may make as much as 12 per cent of the Philippines’ photo voltaic capability by 2030, in keeping with Rystad Vitality.
The Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are anticipated to steer Southeast Asia’s push into floating photo voltaic. As an archipelago, the Philippines has many giant inland lakes which are appropriate for FPV, comparable to Laguna Lake, the place there are plans for almost 3 gigawatts-alternating-current (GWac) of capability. Chart by Rystad Vitality
Transition investments
Fossil fuels nonetheless make up a sizeable portion of the Philippines’ vitality combine, with coal accounting for 58 per cent of the nation’s energy technology. Solely 22 per cent of the archipelago’s present grid is provided by renewable vitality sources, with photo voltaic and wind services contributing simply 1.4 per cent.
Nevertheless, with the rollout of the nation’s formidable Nationwide Renewable Vitality Programme (NREP), the Philippines has rapidly risen to have the largest renewable vitality improvement pipeline in Southeast Asia by incentivising overseas direct funding.
In late 2022, the Philippines’ Division of Vitality (DOE) additionally amended the implementing guidelines and rules of the Renewable Vitality Act to totally open its renewable vitality sector to overseas possession.
The NREP outlines the nation’s purpose to extend the share of renewables in its vitality combine to 35 per cent by 2030 and 50 per cent by 2040. The nation is poised so as to add 17,809 MW of put in photo voltaic and seven,856 MW of wind capability by 2030.
A number of FPV tasks determine on this pipeline, together with Blueleaf Vitality and SunAsia Vitality Inc’s 1,300 MW floating photo voltaic undertaking and a 1,000-plus MW portfolio of 5 FPV services to be established by subsidiaries of ACEN Corp, the vitality arm of the Ayala Group – all in Laguna de Bay, the Philippines’ largest freshwater lake, some 30 kilometres south of Metro Manila.
ACEN’s tasks have already been granted a “inexperienced lane” endorsement by the Philippines’ Board of Investments (BOI). “Inexperienced lanes” are granted by the Philippines’ funding company to expedite the method of acquiring crucial permits for strategic tasks.
ACEN’s vegetation are set to embody a complete of 800 hectares on the floor of Laguna de Bay, whereas the SunAsia Vitality facility is anticipated to cowl 2,000 hectares. The floating services are projected to start development in 2025 and start business operations by 2026.
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A key precept upheld by the Accountable Vitality Initiative is the significance of a rights-based strategy to the scaling of all renewable vitality applied sciences. This contains meaningfully participating with impacted communities.
Cynthia Morel, principal strategist, Discussion board for the Future
In a assertion, Tetchi Capellan, president and CEO of SunAsia Vitality famous that there’s “a robust incentive to construct on water” as “land use is turning into a giant subject for renewables.”
Equally, Eric Francia, ACEN president and CEO, mentioned in a press release that the corporate is investing in FPV to “broaden [its] clear vitality property whereas addressing land shortage.”
In a earlier report, the floating photo voltaic undertaking lead of SunAsia Vitality, famous that the Philippines stands to realize 11 gigawatts in energy technology – sufficient to energise 7.2 million households – from floating photo voltaic alone by overlaying simply 5 per cent of the nation’s water floor.
Water floor rights
Through the launch of the Accountable Vitality Initiative Philippines consortium earlier this 12 months, Discussion board for the Future weighed the sustainability of FPV tasks within the Philippines in its Renewable Vitality to Accountable Vitality: A Name to Motion report.
“Floating photo voltaic has the benefit of circumventing land acquisition points related to conventional photo voltaic installations,” Cynthia Morel, Discussion board for the Future’s principal strategist, instructed Eco-Enterprise. “Nevertheless, there’s a probability of competitors for restricted sources, as seen within the instance of Laguna [de Bay] lake, the place scores of livelihoods depend upon [the body of water for] fishing and agriculture.”
With a complete floor space of 90,000 hectares, some 35 cities dot the shoreline of the Laguna de Bay. The Laguna Lake Improvement Authority estimates that some 13,000 fishermen depend on the lake for his or her livelihoods.
In an electronic mail correspondence, Maris Cardenas of the Heart for Empowerment, Innovation and Coaching on Renewable Vitality cited a 2022 Fee on Audit report that discovered that personal companies already declare greater than 40 per cent of Laguna de Bay’s allowable fishing space – placing the lake’s small-scale fisherfolk at a drawback.
“FPVs can pose a risk to water floor rights relying on the overall space that will probably be allowed or allotted for them,” Cardenas instructed Eco-Enterprise. “A examine to find out or set a cap on the utmost space that may be coated by FPVs could also be wanted. It will consider the variety of fishers and the world the place fish will [breed].”
Equally, Morel referred to as for “deliberate steps [to] be taken to uphold fisherfolks’ current rights,” including that the “vitality transition solves nothing if it leaves society’s most weak communities behind.”
Whereas acknowledging that shading supplied by floating photo voltaic panels could probably assist mitigate dangerous algal blooms and enhance water high quality, consultants at Discussion board for the Future have flagged a handful of ecological impacts the proliferation of FPV on Laguna de Bay could trigger, together with disruption to the spawning behaviour of fish, sedimentation, siltation and shoreline soil erosion, amongst others.
Morel mentioned {that a} “rights-based strategy” was wanted to scale renewable applied sciences, which within the case of FPV will imply participating fisherfolk on the place floating photo voltaic platforms are sited to make sure their livelihoods should not affected.
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