By
Lenie Lectura - July 2, 2017
THE Visayan Electric
Co. (Veco), the second-largest electricity-distribution utility, continues to
push for renewable energy (RE) in order to maintain a balanced mix of
power-generation sources.
No doubt the initial
investment into RE is high at present, Veco COO Anton Perdices said. However,
“in the long term, RE is cheaper than fossil-based technologies”, he added.
More than 50 percent of
Veco’s power supply comes from RE.
Veco, a joint venture
of Aboitiz Power Corp. and Vivant Corp., distributes electricity to Metro Cebu
towns and cities.
Perdices said RE
sources lessen the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels and help
mitigate the effects of climate change.
He also added RE has
its disadvantages, citing some types of RE are location-specific, like
geothermal and hydro. Solar and wind-power farmscannot provide baseload power
due to reliability issues.
He said to provide
reliable and competitively priced power, Veco has to maintain a balanced mix of
generation sources.
“A balanced mix of
renewable- and thermal- energy sources can address the different levels and
patterns of power demand in the most efficient and cost-effective way,” he
added.
Veco’s peak demand in
2016 stood at 524 megawatts (MW), of which 50.47 percent came from mostly
geothermal sources in the Visayas.
In 2015 32 percent of
the Philippines’s power supply came from RE. Around 20 percent of the global
supply for power comes from RE.
Together with its
partners, Aboitiz Power has a net sellable capacity of 3,954 MW, of which 32
percent or 1,263 MW comes from RE.
The RE capacity will
grow further with the completion of the 69-MW run-of-river Manolo Fortich
hydropower project in Bukidnon, the 8-MW Maris Canal hydro project in Isabela,
and the 8.8-MW biomass facilty in Lian, Batangas, through subsidiary Aseagas.
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