International Finance Corporation (IFC), investment arm of the World Bank, will more than double its portfolio investment for global renewable energy projects to $3 billion a year for 2009 to 2011 from $1.3 billion in 2008.

IFC resident representative to the Philippines Jesse Ang said IFC has been looking at the Philippines as one country in Asia with the most number of business opportunities when it comes to developing RE sources.

“Overall, here in the Philippines, we see tremendous opportunity in the renewable energy space. For geothermal and hydroelectric power, and wind, and biomass,” he said.

He noted that the Philippines is already the second largest user of geothermal power and is one of the top users of hydro electric power.

“For wind energy – as we already have Northwind in the northern coast of Ilocos, and biomass as we’re an agricultural country and there is a lot of waste products in the agricultural area can be used for biomass,” he added.

IFC Philippines Wednesday launched its Sustainable Energy Finance Program which, funded by the Global Environment Facility or GEF,works with local Financial Institutions in assisting private sector investments in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency projects.

In April this year, the IFC gave a technical grant for a study on how to source funds for RE projects. IFC said $5.3 million worth of technical assistance is being proposed to its board.

“This project uses $5.3 million of GEF funds to support advisory services ($2.3 million) and risk sharing ($3 million) for financial institutions,” IFC said.

This program was slated for approval by the multilateral financial firm’s board in May this year.

Specifically, IFC will engage in the so-called Philippines Sustainable Energy Finance Project II which aims to support the creation of a commercial financing market for sustainable energy (SE) projects in the country.

This will also assist the Philippines in improving energy security and economic productivity and promoting private enterprise in the energy sector.

Phils SEF II will cover both Energy Efficiency (EE) and Renewable Energy projects. This assistance will likewise focus on providing three to four local financial institutions with the support necessary to develop their own portfolio in SE projects.