Challenges for implementing renewable energy in a cooperative-driven off-grid system in the Philippines

•Slow policy implementation are key obstacles for cooperatives to engage in low-carbon energy development in the Philippines.•The missionary electrification scheme fails to incentivize the development of low-carbon energy technologies in remote islands.•Laws and policies are not transformative per se. It takes people to animate these policies and laws.•The lack of a comprehensive energy sector planning at different levels is a major obstacle in the policy domain.•Joint venture schemes with electric cooperatives are not attractive to the private sector due to low revenue projections.