Renewable energy is ‘real and achievable’ for PHL–Greenpeace

Business mirror

SATURDAY, 04 JUNE 2011 18:20 DENNIS ESTOPACE

SHIFTING to renewable energy (RE) instead of opting for nuclear power or fossil fuel to fill in the gap in the country’s power supply, is “not a dream for the future”  but is “real and can be achieved  now,” the environmental lobby group Greenpeace said.

Citing its  report titled, “The Philippine Energy [R]evolution Road map to 2020,” Greenpeace claims the Philippines has a potential of 47,287.48 megawatts (MW) from wind, biomass, geothermal and hydroelectric power plants, which is the equivalent of the energy sourced out by Japan from its 54 nuclear reactors.

The group’s Philippines staff said the country can avoid a disaster, such as Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant incident following an earthquake and a tsunami, by focusing on the development of its renewable energy sources, which when fully developed, as claimed by Greenpeace, can supply more than 50 percent of the Philippines’ energy needs as early as 2020.

The group, hence, urges the government to scrap all new proposals for coal-fired and nuclear power plants, and channel those investments to the development of the renewable energy sector and energy efficiency measures.

The mapping of the potential renewable energy sources by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows that about 9,405 MW of power from wind sources can be secured from nine power plants in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4 (A and B), 5, 6, 7 and 13. About 25,389.5 MW of geothermal energy potential was identified in Greenpeace’s report in nine locations, while five locations, in the country can produce 11,703.5 MW of hydroelectric power.

Greenpeace said biomass, the only source that has fuel costs, can produce about 789.48 MW of RE from five power plants in the Philippines.

These exclude the power generated from the solar photovoltaic power plant in Cagayan de Oro and the planned 30 MW-generating unit in Misamis Oriental.

The group noted that four RE projects with a total of 867 MW of wind energy are pending or have been proposed to the Department of Energy.

These power plants are being eyed to be built in Central Luzon, Mimaropa, Bicol and Western Visayas.

The country’s first commercial-size wind farm in Bangui provides nearly half of the electricity requirements in Ilocos Norte, according to Greenpeace.

Meanwhile, a total of 483.5-MW geothermal energy have been proposed and still pending for Regions 2, 4-A, 4-B, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 12 (Soccsksargen).

Climate and energy campaigner Amalie Conchelle C. Hamoy-Obusan, said the Philippines is a “leader in RE development and has a solid RE law.”

Using their group’s report as basis, she said that “increasing RE generation share to at least 50 percent by 2020 is entirely achievable.”

Greenpeace estimates that by next year, the technically feasible share of RE in the Luzon grid will hit 31.55 percent of the total, while the Visayas and Mindanao will hit 63.99 percent and 57.16 percent, respectively.

The Visayas grid will have far bigger share in the total by 2020 at 85.61 percent of the country’s total power supply, followed by Mindanao at 77.24 percent and Luzon at 45.50 percent.

Coal, natural gas and oil—three major fossil fuel sources—will have a total of 44.6-percent share as power source  after nine years.

Greenpeace argues that RE is a more viable source of energy for the country since it costs less in the long term and contributes less to climate change.

(Dennis Estopace)