How the Philippines Can Be a Solar Power

(page 2 of 2)

Companies like Solaria and SunPower "represent the magnets helping to attract other pieces of the solar supply chain that specialize in things such as solar glass, frames, equipment design, automation, etc."

Stimulating Investment and R&D

Having companies like SunPower and Solaria here is one thing; leveraging their presence to jump-start a local solar industry is another. A key opportunity for the Philippines is the fact that a lot of the costs are now in the system integration and installation side of the equation. The costs from the technology, design, and manufacturing of solar panels will eventually be surmounted by competing technologies, but what will lower it further is wide-scale adoption. Here is where the Philippines can play a part.

The high initial outlay deters many investors, even though it is a one-time cost that can be depreciated. Sunlight is free and abundant, so there are no fuel costs and very little maintenance costs. There are already several solar (and also wind) projects in the Philippines, both off-grid and on-grid systems. One thing that will help encourage more investment is the recent passage of a renewable energy bill in the Philippine Congress. Features such as net metering, value-added tax exemptions, and tax credits are expected to stimulate investment and research and development.

With an increase in the domestic market for photovoltaics, opportunities will arise for small and large companies alike to develop business and introduce local innovations. For example, local power semiconductor companies such as PSI Technologies can position their power electronics business for the new demands of the solar sector.

The Philippines has 7,100 islands, many of which are not interconnected to the grid, so a myriad of innovative solar applications exists for off-grid areas. For example, the country relies heavily on cell phones for communication, so a backup solar system when there is a natural disaster or blackout is a key need. Problems may crop up in applications such as net metering, or tracking the position of the sun, which can result in local innovations to solve those problems. "There is huge potential in the Philippines for using distributed solar energy to generate power in places where the electricity infrastructure does not reach," says Funcell.

Local Research Help Needed

The key that will drive the Philippines to succeed in this arena is linking the industry more effectively to universities, particularly in industry-funded research and solar panel donations to interested parties. Research groups such as the University of the Philippines National Institute of Physics (UP NIP) have optics and device fabrication capabilities, including thin-film deposition working with technologies like Molecular Beam Epitaxy and compounds like GaAs and InP. In 2005 the prestigious Optical Society of America called a paper from the UP NIP one of the most exciting research papers for that year.

The Ateneo de Manila University Innovation Center is also working on solar. One project involves using solar panels to drive converted dehumidifiers that end up generating high-purity water (up to 16 liters a day) from moisture in the air. Another school, De La Salle University, built a solar car called SINAG that used SunPower solar cells.

An expansion of joint research between academe and industry can produce a healthy solar energy sector here, with the support of the financial sector and government agencies. Any talk of setting up a solar energy valley will involve more than just the renewable energy bill and investments from SunPower and Solaria. The Philippines will need public-private partnerships to encourage the installation and development of local solar plants, the development of technology suppliers for the sector, the development of systems integrators, and the spurring of innovative applications.

Dennis Posadas is the Editor of Cleantech Asia Online, an opinion site for clean energy developments in Asia. He is also the author of Jump Start: A Technopreneurship Fable (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009) and Rice & Chips: Technopreneurship and Innovation in Asia (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007) and is a Manila-based tech columnist.