DOE debunks bias for coal power

Manila Times.net
Written by : RAADEE S. SAUSA  Published : Tuesday, June 26, 2012 00:00


THE Department of Energy (DOE) on Monday refuted allegations that it had a bias for coal-generated power, adding that it awarded 304 Renewable Energy (RE) contracts that will put in place 7,843.65 megawatts (MW) in power generation capacity.
This is significantly a lot more than the coal-fired power plants’ generating capacity totaling 1,935 MW as of end-June 2012.
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said that, “There are very few countries in the world that can stand up and say that 58.2 percent of their power is green. As a matter of fact, the UNIDO [United Nations Industrial Development Organization] has set a target of 30 percent renewable by 2030. And clearly, the Philippines is way ahead of this target.”
In addition, the share of green energy in power generation in the Philippines now stands at 58.2 percent in 2011 from the previous 2010 level of 55.1 percent.
Similarly, the share of RE-generating capacity has also increased from 26.3 percent in 2010 to 28.4 percent in 2011. These numbers show that from 2010 to 2011, the Philippines had been increasing its green generation capacities, the DOE stated.
Almendras also explained that because of the renewed confidence in the Aquino administration, as clearly evidenced by recent economic numbers, electricity consumption is growing faster than it has in the past ten years.
Also, the DOE noted that the Manila Electric Co. announced that their year-on-year growth is now at 10 percent and leading the increase is the industrial sector growing by 13.4 percent. This double-digit growth in electricity consumption has not been seen in years, where the 10-year average growth only stood at 4.3 percent.
“All of these indicate that we must increase baseload generation to meet the increased consumption of electricity so as not to stifle economic growth. Then there is the other challenge of keeping electricity rates low, therefore we must increase generation capacity using the lowest cost technologies to meet the short to medium term needs,” Almendras said.
“Subsequently we believe that more sustainable options will be more economically viable due to technology advancements and it is precisely why the DOE sees more RE and green options taking the lead by 2017 and beyond,” he added.    source