A two-day workshop on “Scaling-up Decentralized and Community-Based Renewable Energy Systems in the Philippines”, was held on 25 – 26 February 2015 at the Mangarita Organic Farm in Barangay Manga, Capas, Tarlac. The event was organized jointly by Sibol ng Agham at Teknolohiya (SIBAT) and Greenpeace Southeast Asia Philippines with support from Climate Action Network-International (CAN). It was attended by 21 representatives from NGOs, four (4) Microhydro partners from Apayao and Nueva Viscaya, academe, and individual consultants working in the Renewable Energy sector.
The Workshop did a stock-taking of all implemented decentralized and community-based RE systems, through the presentation made by Victoria Lopez, SIBAT’s Executive Director. She discussed the developmental framework on which community-based renewable energy systems are anchored, that includes respect to cultural traditions and recognition of the ownership and stewardship by the community of their water and renewable energy resources. She explained that despite the lack of policy support, the communities have sustained their CBRES for more than 20 years, and had effects in transforming the lives of people. To support this claim, the PO representatives from Apayao and Nueva Viscaya shared their stories on tackling the hardships they went through in building the Microhydro power, in sustaining these and in conquering all challenges through hard work and determination. The PO representatives claimed that the projects have empowered them as communities, beyond providing them with energy for their basic and productive needs.
The stories invoked varied perspectives from the participants. Some of the words elicited in the exchanges were: “empowering,” “sense of awe,” “does not impose on local values,” “lighted up hope,” “magical,” “bridges communities,” “encourage love,” “positive advocacy,” “solutions-focused” and “transforming lives.”
Mr. Roberto Verzola gave a presentation entitled “Crossing Over: The Energy Transition to Renewable Electricity”, that provided a brief overview of the current policy environment for renewable energy development and current socio-political realities of shifting towards cleaner and more sustainable sources of energy. The lecture advocated for the maximization of use of renewable energy so all energy needs can be sourced out from renewables, avoiding the dependence trap or of being “locked-in” on fossil fuels, including coal technology.
Mr. Erwin Serafica, Program Manager of Renewable Energy Association of the Philippines (REAP), talked on the Philippine energy situation and the need to ensure energy security to lessen dependence on imported energy with emphasis on renewable and green resources. He pointed out the need to employ innovative and alternative solutions towards the judicious utilization of energy resources. He also discussed the challenges of decentralized, community based renewable energy systems vis-à-vis the current energy-related laws in the Philippines like the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). He proposed a harmonization of current policy and regulatory frameworks to provide a horizontal separation between large-scale RE and CBRES developers, for the CBRES framework to fully develop.
A set of presentations came from academic and civil-society players who are mostly practitioners of decentralized and community based energy systems. Most of their presentations talked about the practices and challenges they have experienced in implementing decentralized RE and CBRES.
Dr. Renyl Barroca, Ph.D. of Ateneo de Davao University, explained that as part of the university’s effort in advocating vigorously for environmental protection, the University established the Center for Renewable Energy and Appropriate Technology (CREATE), to focus on environmental protection through green and environment-friendly technologies. Given such mandate, Dr. Barroca said that CREATE has been able to help communities affected by Typhoon Pablo in 2012 and continues to find and research on innovations for solar technology and other renewable energy systems.
Ms. Dipti Vaghela of Hydro Empowerment Network gave an Asian perspective through a presentation that highlighted experiences from Indonesia, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Ms. Vaghela’s organization works on micro-hydro programs in the South and Southeast Asian regions. The presenter focused on the organizations’ mission of getting people and the environment to work together through technology advancement. Its main thrust is to transform knowledge exchange into action, by building the capacity of community-level change agents for technology design and dissemination and building sustainability mechanisms. These are translated into engagement like knowledge exchange, advocacy strategies and research and innovation. The organization also faces challenges like technology gaps and access to funding. To cap her session, a short film on Microhydro power grids in Nepal was presented to the group.
Finally Mr. Reuben Muni of GreenPeace, talked about the global strategy that was developed by his organization, premised on the principles of fair energy access for all, and respect of natural limits on natural resources. This strategy has three elements: energy efficiency, renewable energy and the smart grid. The latter, the integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems in the production and distribution of electricity.
Finally, recommendations were also formulated through workshops, in the areas of: policy development, financing, communication/storytelling, and technology and knowledge management.