Department of Energy building
Billions of pesos worth of investments in energy efficiency have been recorded by the Department of Energy (DOE) in the past two years.
In a statement on Tuesday, the DOE, through its Energy Utilization Management Bureau, said it recorded P6.8 billion worth of energy efficiency investments, citing data from the Annual Energy Efficiency and Conservation and Annual Energy Consumption Reports submitted by the Designated Establishments (DEs) for the compliance period of 2021–2022.
The Energy Department defines DEs as private entities in the commercial, industrial, transport, power, agriculture, public works, and other sectors identified as “energy-intensive industries” based on their annual consumption from the previous year.
The DOE classifies DEs as Type 1 and Type 2.
Type 1 DEs have an annual energy consumption of 500,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) to 4,000,000 kWh in the prior year, while Type 2 DEs have an annual energy consumption of more than 4,000,000 kWh in the previous year.
The Energy Department said that for Type 1 DEs, an investment of around P360 million was recorded, while around P6.1 billion was recorded for Type 2 DEs.
Meanwhile, a total of 4,782 DEs with an annual energy consumption threshold of more than 100,000 kWh recorded an investment of around P306 million.
Energy efficiency investments include projects that use energy-efficient technologies and practices, which include new installation, upgrading, or retrofitting specific equipment or devices such as lighting retrofits, automated lighting control systems, smart control systems, Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) upgrades, boiler replacements, and other similar devices or equipment.
The DOE also saw increased investment in Solar PV, Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs), Cogeneration System, District Cooling System, Pumping System, HVAC System, Compressed Air System, Smart Manufacturing System, and Building Energy Management System.
“I am very pleased that our DEs are moving forward on energy efficiency and conservation. These accomplishments bring multiple benefits for the companies,” said Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla.
“Industry has a crucial role to play in our quest towards achieving a low carbon-intensive economy and, more importantly, integrating this into their business models,” he added. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
This article DOE: P6.8B worth of energy efficiency investments recorded in 2021-2022 was originally published in GMA News Online.