MANILA - The private sector investment arm of the World Bank is planning to invest more on renewable energy (RE) projects in fiscal year 2009.

The World Bank's International Finance Corp. (IFC) said it may increase its portfolio investment for RE projects to $3 billion this fiscal year, more than double its $1.3-billion investment in fiscal year 2008.

"Our portfolio for fiscal year 2008, which ended June 30, 2008, is $1.3 billion for renewable energy projects. We are looking to increase that to $3 billion by fiscal year 2009," IFC resident representative to the Philippines Jesse Ang said.

According to Ang, the IFC sees "tremendous" business opportunities in the Philippines when it comes to developing RE sources.

"Overall, here in the Philippines, we see tremendous opportunity in the renewable energy space...We're the second largest geothermal user in the world," he said.

IFC is set to 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 projects in the country.

"In the case of Sustainable Energy Finance, we're doing knowledge sharing and, hopefully in the process, they can convert those knowledge into loans, particularly for big banks like BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands). They are strong engines of growth if they are able to use their funding," Ang said.