Published
February 28, 2017, 10:01 PM By Enrico Dela Cruz and Martin Petty
The Philippines needs
to build an additional 7,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation capacity over
the next five years to support its fast-growing economy and wants foreign
investors to help, its energy minister said on Monday.
Firms from China, South
Korea, Russia and Japan were interested in new Philippine power projects, and
President Duterte would soon sign an executive order to address soaring power
demand by giving priority status to get new projects ready in half the time,
Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi told Reuters.
The Philippines, with a
population of more than 100 million people and one of the world’s fastest
growing economies, aims to double its power generation capacity by 2030 to
avoid a return to the frequent blackouts suffered during the 1990s.
At the end of June
2016, installed capacity was 20,055 megawatts, a third of it fuelled by coal,
according to government data. Power is generated 34 percent by coal, 34 percent
by oil and gas and 32 percent from renewable sources.
The Philippines would
be technology neutral, Cusi said, to avoid being shackled to caps and quotas
and create more competition, with the aim of slashing electricity prices for
industry and consumers. With no state subsidies, prices are the highest in
Southeast Asia.
“What we want is to
build our supply to a level that is meeting the demand with sufficient reserve
for industry,” Cusi said in an interview.
“So it’s competition at
work. Whoever comes first, offers a good project development, and it will bring
down the cost – yes.”
Chinese firms were
interested in a lead role, he said, in areas such as hydro, nuclear, coal and
LNG areas, plus construction of those facilities and their financing.
“We were there
basically to tell (the Chinese) that our energy sector is open for business,”
he said, asked why an energy ministry delegation was in Beijing last month.
At least three Japanese
firms, including Osaka Gas and Tokyo Gas had been in talks about investments in
new LNG projects, he added.
Plans for gas power
plants and storage facilities are in preparation for the anticipated depletion
by 2024 of gas fields at the Malampaya project, an offshore field that fuels 40
percent of Luzon island, home to the capital Manila.
Although energy
security was a priority, Cusi said it was too early to discuss exploration of
offshore gas fields known as SC 72 and SC 75, at the Reed Bank in the South
China Sea.
Though those are
located within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, the sites fall
within the vast area of the waterway that China lays claim to. By some industry
estimates, SC 72 alone may have triple the reserves of Malampaya.
But Cusi said the
energy ministry needed to await direction from the foreign ministry on the
status of diplomatic relations with China before lifting a suspension on
exploration in those areas.
“It needs to be
clarified,” he said. “We want to go forward with it without any disruption.”
He said it was too soon
to discuss whether the two countries could share the resources, as has been
suggested by President Duterte.
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