The renewable portfolio standard rises from 1% to 2.52% a year

In September 2022 the Department of Energy raised the annual increment of the Renewable Portfolio Standards from 1% to 2.52% of a supplier's sales, starting with the 2023 compliance year. The 1% rate set in 2017 would not have reached the plan's 35% by 2030; the new one is calculated to.

Compiled in September 2026 from the releases of the time, with the revisions the agencies have published since. Nothing here is a forecast.

How the standard works

Every distribution utility, electric cooperative and retail electricity supplier, and every generator selling directly to a customer, must source a minimum share of its sales from eligible renewable plants. Compliance is shown with renewable energy certificates, one per megawatt-hour, issued by the registrar and traded on the market the operator runs. A supplier short of certificates buys them; a plant with a surplus sells them.

What the increment means in capacity

An extra 1.52 percentage points a year on national sales of roughly 100 terawatt-hours is about 1.5 terawatt-hours of new renewable generation every year, or around 700 MW of solar at Philippine capacity factors. The auction rounds are sized to supply it; the standard is what obliges somebody to buy it.

Which plants are eligible

Biomass, biogas and waste-to-energy plants are eligible on the same terms as solar, wind, hydro and geothermal, provided they hold a service contract and are registered. A mill's cogeneration plant that exports to the grid earns certificates on the exported energy. The certificate is a second revenue line on a plant that already has heat and power.

The obligation on the other side

A contestable customer that buys from a retail supplier is paying, through that supplier, for the certificates the standard requires. A site that generates its own power from residue is not. The standard is one more line in the comparison between buying electricity and making it, and after this circular it grows every year.

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