Published June 5, 2019, 6:47 PM By Minerva Newman
CEBU CITY – The Department of Energy
(DOE) presented its energy investment portfolio to potential investors during
the 11th Energy Investment Forum in Cebu last week.
Energy Undersecretary Felix William
Fuentebella told the investors the Philippines they could look at five energy
sectors: power, oil and gas, coal, natural gas and renewable energy (RE).
Fuentebella said the investors were
provided with an “Energy Investment Kit” for their reference.
Fuentebella said that as a result of
the reforms implemented under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA),
the power sector has become very lucrative.
The Philippines needs 43,765
megawatts more by 2040, with the Visayas looking at 9,180MW more, Fuentebella
said.
“The DOE hopes to achieve
100-percent electrification of the country by 2022. Projects are needed
in the setting up of these additional capacities and these need money/funds or
investments,” he added.
The Visayas grid has 14 proponents
for committed power projects of 784.7MW. The projects include coal-fired plants
with 735MW capacity in Toledo City and Barangay Nipa Conception in Iloilo which
is targeted to run this year.
For oil-based projects, a 135-MW
modular Diesel Ancillary Service Power plant in Isabel, Leyte is expected to
operate this August, Fuentebella said.
In Iloilo and Aklan, there are two
hydro projects which are expected to begin commercial operation this December
with 23.1MW capacity, and a geothermal plant in Biliran with 50.0MW scheduled
to operate from July 2021 to June 2026 for its various phases of completion, he
went on.
In biomass, there are eight projects
with 206.6MW which are in Victoria, Binalbagan, Calasagan, Himamaylan, Manapla
in Negros Occidental. Target operation date is December.
The Visayas Grid Indicative Power
projects have 38 proponents with 3,797.1MW capacity, 600 MW coming from coal
plants in Mactan, Cebu and in San Carlos, Negros Occidental which are still on
the development stage.
Renewable energy projects include
the wind energy with 1,568MW, solar with 703.4 MW capacity with the rest is
from coal and oil-based projects.
According to Fuentebella, developing
countries like the Philippines need a cost-efficient and reliable energy mix of
conventional and non-conventional sources to meet their economic potentials.
He said there are 1,702 potential
off-grid sites in a country composed of 7,641 islands, with 2,399,108
households still unserved.
Opportunities are also open for
hybridization of diesel mini-grids and power plants with 400MW of diesel
generating capacity installed in over 320 off-grid missionary areas.
Fuentebella also mentioned ideal
sites for new power plants in Compostela Valley and Mactan in Cebu; Corella in
Bohol and Calbayog in Samar with the combined capacity of 300MW.
Most of the indicative renewable
energy projects are in the Visayas, which has the biggest share of renewable
energy projects in the country, with Fuentebella citing solar, biomass and
geothermal projects, especially in Negros Oriental and Region 8.
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