Incentives include exemptions from tariff duties and zero-rated value-added tax for the importation of machinery and equipment for the first 10 years of an operating contract, as well as tax credit on domestic capital equipment and services.
Special realty tax rates will also be imposed on equipment and machinery for renewable energy development. An income tax benefit will also be granted to potential investors for the first seven years of operations.
That is even “on the conservative side,” Department of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Utilization and Management Bureau Director Mario Marasigan said.
Marasigan felt that the investors would find the energy sector quite lucrative, particularly when the implementing rules and regulations for RA 9513, or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, is finalized by June 2009.
Marasigan said that at present the DOE did not have an exact handle on the number of investors that were seriously interested in investing in renewable energy projects.
None of them have submitted firm plans, Marasigan added.
What the DOE knows at this point are the renewable energy projects that are most attractive to potential investors, Marasigan said.
“Most of these investors are looking at wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass, including solid waste-to-energy concepts, and biofuels. At least one company is interested in ocean energy thermal conversion,” Marasigan said.
Marasigan said the guidelines should be completed by June, “ahead of the July deadline set by the law.”
