ICSC: Distributed energy and battery storage can solve the Visayas grid crisis
Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities ANALYSIS The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) is calling for a more diversified, decentralized, and flexible power system, as the twin issues of persistent grid alerts and high Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices—fueled by forced outages across major coal plants—highlight the risks of overdependence on centralized baseload power plants as seen in the recurring yellow and red alerts experienced in Visayas. Coal accounts for around 60% of the Philippines' electricity generation. In Visayas, these coal power plants had notable shutdowns in recent months: Therma Visayas Inc. Unit 1 (TVI [...]
Paranas communities help shape municipality’s 15-year RE roadmap
The Municipality of Paranas in Samar is moving forward in developing its 15-year renewable energy (RE) roadmap, bringing together communities, government offices, civil society groups, the academe, and energy stakeholders to help shape the municipality’s energy future. On August 24, stakeholders gathered at Kirigtaan Hall in Paranas for the RE Roadmap Multistakeholder Consultation, where they reviewed the municipality’s energy situation and provided inputs on the initial targets, programs, policies, and activities developed during an earlier scoping workshop. This was followed by a three-day technical writeshop from August 26 to 28, where the municipal Technical Working Group (TWG) began translating [...]
Renewable energy delivers nearly twice the FIT-ALL rate in lower electricity costs
QUEZON CITY, 26 August 2026 –– Renewable energy projects supported through the Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) mechanism have reduced electricity bills by Php 0.3916/kWh* across 2024-2025, almost twice the recently elevated FIT Allowance (FIT-All) rate of Php 0.2073/kWh, according to a new analysis by the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC). At the system level, FIT-supported renewable energy generated an estimated ₱99.2 billion in wholesale electricity market savings in 2024 and 2025 alone. That two-year amount is already equivalent to nearly half of the ₱220.5 billion consumers have paid through FIT-ALL over the roughly 11 years since collections began in [...]
ICSC: Consumers should not pay for preventable electricity losses
QUEZON CITY, 24 August 2026 –– Consumers should not be made to pay for system losses that electric distribution utilities can prevent. The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC), in a recent position paper, is calling for reforms that distinguish unavoidable technical losses from preventable losses caused by electricity theft, illegal connections, meter tampering, billing errors, and other operational failures. The call comes amid renewed public debate over system loss charges following President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2026 State of the Nation Address, with consumers questioning why they continue to bear charges for electricity they did not consume. While [...]
Bohol moves to diversify power supply amid rising demand
PANGLAO ISLAND, BOHOL, 22 August 2026 — With the Visayas grid facing recurring yellow and red alerts amid tight power reserves and several generating units on forced outage, the Province of Bohol is taking steps to strengthen its energy security, reliability, and affordability by making greater use of its own renewable energy resources and planning strategically for future energy needs. From August 11 to 14, the Technical Working Group (TWG) participated in the Bohol Province Renewable Energy Roadmap Workshop. This four-day workshop examined the province’s current energy landscape, assessed its renewable energy (RE) potential, and identified energy priorities and [...]