Renewable energy projects in Visayas uptrend

Monday, March 26, 2012


THE Department of Energy (DOE) announced Sunday that the renewable energy projects in Visayas are growing at a relatively faster phase amid reports of looming power shortage of some 100 to 150 megawatt in the region by 2015.


Engr. Eduardo Amante said the share of renewable energy in the total power supply in the Visayas has grown to 26.24 percent in 2011 from 12.2 percent only in the last five years.


Amante heads the Energy Resource Development and Utilization of DOE Visayas field office and was one of the resource speakers in the Renewable Energy Conference held Saturday.


Amante said 17 renewable energy projects have already been awarded, with total capacity of 1,058.18 megawatt, and 17 more with 705 megawatt capacity are waiting for government’s go signal.


Amante added that if the data on off-grid renewable energy projects and those stand-alone home systems are added, the percentage of the energy share could be bigger.


“People may not be aware of this but renewable energy share in the national power statistics is already 38.9 percent and still counting. In fact, we are now the only country in South East Asia with the highest and respectable renewable energy records,” Amante said.


Leading the awarded renewable energy projects are the hydro power, wind power and the biomass, with geothermal, solar and ocean energy still lagging behind but showing good potentials.


Engr. Rey Maleza, also of the DOE Visayas, said the public may not know these projects because the department does not hype these in media and that it focuses more on going down to the community level.


“In as much as we would want the people know that RE is really one of our priorities, we just cannot do too many things because of the lack of budget for mass information and communication,” Maleza said.


“Still, we want to accelerate the exploration and development of renewable energy sources and increase their utilization in as many parts of the country, as mandated by the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 or RA 9513,” Maleza added.


When asked about the good mix of renewable and non-renewable energy relative to prices and efficiency, Maleza said, “as much as possible, the base and intermediate power load should be increasingly dependent on clean and renewable energies while the peak power load can be augmented by coal and oil.”


Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casiño, who was the keynote speaker of the conference, however, warned that despite the remarkable growth of renewable energy development and utilization in the country, it is also facing the danger of becoming another “big boys club”.


Casiño said almost all the big renewable energy projects have been awarded to multinational power companies, citing, among others, the Lopez-owned Energy Development Corporation operating geothermal power plants in Negros.


“Unless this is checked by the government through clear policy and guidelines and stop all forms of deregulation and privatization of important state utilities, the growth of renewable energy in the country will still not solve the problem of rising prices of power,” Casiño said.


Casiño warned against the clear and imminent danger of non-renewable and renewable energy controlled by same power monopolists.


“If we are battling for the democratization of land and resources, the same should be done in the power sector. This is why government should look for options towards decentralized, small to medium scale power generation, distribution and operations, owned and managed by the organized communities and people’s cooperatives,” he said.


Erel Narida, president and chief executive officer of One Renewable Energy Enterprise Inc., a solar integrator and provider company, backed Casiño’s platform.


“The government should come out with clear policies and guidelines in support of small and marginalized communities, micro and medium renewable energy enterprises,” said Narida.


Bacolod Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus said the Bacolod City government has long been committed to the promotion of renewable energy and, despite the city’s limitations, its leadership continues to find better and cheaper ways to give it realization in the communities.


The Renewable Energy Conference was the first ever gathering of government officials, power experts, engineers, scientists, green architects, social entrepreneurs, green activists, church people, financing institutions, representatives of various people’s organizations and non government development organizations from the region.


It was convened by the Bacolod-based Clean Renewable Energy Movement for Ecological Integrity (Creme), in cooperation with Department of Energy, Land Bank of the Philippines, United Architects of the Philippines-Mt. Kanla-on Chapter, One Renewable Energy Enterprise Inc., Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc., and the JFJ Renewable Enterprise. (Karl G. Ombion)


Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on March 26, 2012.