January 31, 2019 | 10:02 pm
THE ENERGY SECTOR will
play a big role in implementing the proposed energy efficiency and conservation
law as about half of the thousands of megawatts that can be displaced with the
adoption of the legislation will come from power facilities, an official of an
industry organization said.
Alexander Ablaza,
president of the Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance, Inc. (PE2), said 45,900
megawatts (MW) are waiting to gathered through energy efficiency initiatives,
of which about 23,000 MW are currently accounted for by power facilities.
“We have under our
noses 45,900 MW to be harvested from anyone and anything that is using energy
today,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Mr. Ablaza made the
statement during the press briefing to introduce Water Philippines, a
conference scheduled in March that, for the first time, includes renewable
energy, and energy efficiency and conservation stakeholders.
The figure is only the
minimum capacity that can be gathered through the law that is awaiting the
President’s signature, he added.
“Roughly half of that
is in the power sector,” he said. “We’re saying that potentially 23,000 MW of
the 43,000 MW in the Philippine Energy Plan of new installed generating
capacity can be deferred between now and 2040.”
Mr. Ablaza was
referring to the 43,765 MW in required additional capacity that the Department
of Energy (DoE) projected by 2040 using in its simulation an average annual
economic growth rate of 5.7% and an assumed power reserve margin of 25% above
the peak demand.
Based on the DoE’s
forecast, about 25,265 MW of the required power capacity would come from
baseload power plants, most of which are coal-fired facilities that operate
continuously.
“This is universal
across the globe, investing in energy efficiency is cheaper than the cheapest
coal [power plant] on a per installed megawatt basis and, right now at parity,
even cheaper than solar,” Mr. Ablaza said.
Earlier this month, the
Bicameral Conference Committee convened to reconcile the disagreeing positions
of Senate Bill 1531 and House Bill 8629. They then approved the Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Act.
“PE2 positions civil
society and private sector as partner of government for the long haul,” Mr.
Ablaza said about his group’s role.
PE2 is non-stock,
nonprofit organization of energy efficiency market stakeholders.
“We work with
government to make sure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the last 28
years… (and) mainstream energy efficiency now as a resource in our energy mix,”
he said.
Mr. Ablaza said that he
hopes that when the Water Philippines conference takes place on March 20-22,
the law will have passed.
The
business-to-business conference will present the best water technologies and
solutions for water supply, sanitation, industrial wastewater and purification.
It includes renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors to bring together
more than 500 exhibiting companies.
The event will showcase
nine international and regional pavilions from China, European Union, South
Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands and the United
States. — Victor V. Saulon
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