By Lenie Lectura - August 23, 2018
FOLLOWING the issuance of a board
resolution that bans coal as an energy source, the province of Negros Oriental
continues to look for more renewable-energy (RE) opportunities.
To date, a total of 222.5 megawatts
(MW) of electricity is being produced by Negros Oriental’s two geothermal-power
plants that is owned and operated by Lopez-led Energy Development Corp. (EDC)
in the municipality of Valencia.
Negros Oriental Gov. Roel R. Degamo
said during the recent State of Nature Conference that the generated capacity
of the geothermal plants is currently more than enough to supply the power
demands of the province.
“Due to interconnectivity, our power
requirement is not stand-alone,” Degamo said. “It is included and dependent on
the power requirements of the whole Visayas grid.”
As such, he vowed to keep exploriing
more RE opportunities. Degamo recognized the need to tap other RE sources,
despite having relied on geothermal energy for the past 30 years.
A 213,292-square-meter solar- power
plant in Bais City was inaugurated in 2016, generating 24,205 MW of electricity
annually and supplying more than 10,000 households in the region. According to
Degamo, the solar plant saves up to 14,838 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions
every year.
In 2015 Silliman University in
Dumaguete City entered into a partnership with a Filipino-American energy group
for what was dubbed as “the largest school-based solar- power project in
Southeast Asia” that powers the 62-hectare campus with 1.2 MW of solar power.
Degamo also bared the Department of
Energy’s upcoming hydroelectric-power projects in Negros Oriental—three
separate facilities in the municipality of Amlan with a total capacity of 5.5
MW, with target testing and commissioning date of the first two in December
2020 and the final one in December 2025.
The annual conference brought
together stakeholders from various sectors, such as civil society, private
business, academe, as well as the government to address vital environmental
issues.
During his speech, Degamo reiterated
his province’s stance against fossil fuels in power generation. He reiterated
Executive Order 9, which he signed in March this year, which mandated the use
of clean and renewable energy in all 19 municipalities and six cities of Negros
Oriental.
“This means that our local
government will no longer issue any permit, authorization or endorsements that
support development and operation of coal-fired and fossil-fuel power plants,”
he explained. “The province is committed not to use coal as an energy source
because of its impact on the environment, on health and global climate.”
Degamo issued his strongest
statement yet against coal, saying it is “incredibly dirty.”
Referring to opposition that his
move toward RE has received: “Their argument is true and simple: Coal-fired
[power] is cheap. My answer is truer and simpler: Environmental destruction is
so expensive. It is never negotiable,” stated Degamo.
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