Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
- June 12, 2019 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel
Corp. (SMC) defended its plans to develop coal power plants amid opposition
from a consumer and environmental group.
In a statement yesterday, consumer
group Murang Kuryente slammed SMC for using scare tactics to push for
coal-fired power plant projects.
This as SMC president and chief
operating officer Ramon Ang bared the possibility of rotating blackouts in 2020
until 2022 due to regulatory delays in the approval of power plant
construction.
“SMC wants more power plants and it
wants them now. Unfortunately, they’re all powered by expensive coal, so
they’re resorting to frightening announcements to scare the people into
submission,” Murang Kuryente spokesperson Gerry Arances said.
Murang Kuryente, a consumer group
formed to fight excessive power rates, have identified coal as the primary
reason for the high prices of electricity and the unreliability of the
country’s power grid in the so-called power crisis that occurred earlier this
year.
“Filipinos have a right to
affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity. Coal cannot provide that,
but the power sector continues to prioritize profit over service and so they
insist on coal, to the detriment of consumers’ wallets and health,” Arances
said.
However, Ang said the country needs
to put up more power plants to ensure that progress is sustained with the
continuing economic growth and aggressive infrastructure development.
Ang said the power plant investments
need to be able to address all the critical issues--affordability, reliability,
and of course, environmental concerns.
“Our approach to addressing the
country’s power needs has always been to maintain a diversified portfolio of
traditional and renewable energy sources,” Ang said.
The company, through subsidiary SMC
Global Power Holdings Inc., is pushing through with its planned two
2x150-megawatt (MW) circulating fluidized bed (CFB) coal-fired power plants.
These are the Central Luzon Premiere
Power Corp. in Pagbilao, Quezon and Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (MPGC) in
Mariveles, Bataan.
For its new coal power plant
projects, SMC would use the latest, cleanest and safest coal combustion
technology.
“These are no longer the coal plants
of old that burn so much fuel and emit so much pollution,” Ang said.
“We have been publishing weekly
emission results of our new coal power facilities on the front pages of major
national dailies, to encourage transparency and show how very low its emissions
are,” he said.
To balance coal investments, SMC is
also ramping up its renewable energy capacity. It earlier announced plans to
build 1,200 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy, targeted for completion by
2024.
“That’s why we are studying hydro,
tidal, and wind power technologies and have identified certain locations for
these projects,” Ang said.
“Until renewables can produce the
same high level of reliable capacity that is also economically viable for
ordinary consumers—coal cannot be completely eliminated. What we can work on
and advocate is for more companies to put in the necessary investments to
produce the cleanest, safest possible coal power as we completely transition to
renewables,” he said.
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