SINGAPOREAN businesses are strengthening their tie-up with Philippine counterparts given the attractiveness of the Philippines’ energy sector, an official of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) said Wednesday, October 29.
SEAS Executive Director Kavita Gandhi, in an interview on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW), said there are “some investors that are looking at (the) Philippines actively.”
“(The) Philippines is a very attractive market. Your tariffs are very high, you know, one of the highest in Asia. I guess, almost similar to Singapore. So that gives room for renewables to play,” she said.
Gandhi, however, said some of the investors worry about the regulatory challenges in the Philippines.
“But despite that, the interest is very strong,” she said.
Since SEAS is a Singapore-based group, Gandhi said they do not lobby for any changes before government officials, “but what we do is we try to encourage interaction between Singapore companies and Philippine companies.”
Asked for the amount of investments that Singapore-based business plans to place in the Philippines, Gandhi said they do not have data on this but stressed that the investors are “looking for the best projects.”
“That is green capital, sustainable capital, looking for bankable projects. So, it’s definitely a business-to-business commercial arrangement. Whenever they find that the opportunity is good, they go ahead and do the investments,” she added.
During the visit of Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in the Philippines last June, he and President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. announced greater bilateral and regional relations to achieve the goals of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Power Grid (APG), and Singapore’s plan to invest in the Philippines renewable energy sector, particularly on solar and wind projects.
Interconnected power grid
Energy Secretary Sharon Garin, in her speech in one of the sessions of the SIEW, highlighted the need for strengthened efforts among members of the ASEAN to hit the goal of the APG, aimed to link energy-related systems of member-countries to maximize resources and ensure supply stability.
“ASEAN envisions a fully interconnected regional power system capable of meeting the region’s growing energy demand, while also preserving reliability and affordability. This interconnected system will drive the transition toward a cleaner, resilient, and sustainable energy future, where progress and prosperity are shared equitably across the member states,” she said.
Garin said the goal for an interconnected energy system in the region “stands not merely as a long-standing aspiration but as a strategic enabler for the next phase of our collective energy transition.”
“To unlock the full potential of regional interconnection, cooperation must go beyond building physical links. We must align our national policies to ensure systems can operate seamlessly across borders. Harmonized technical standards, compatible market mechanisms, clear investment frameworks, and stable cross-border governance from the foundation of our collective progress,” she added. (PNA)
