Gov’t pushed to set long-term energy mix

The government should formulate a fixed energy mix to plan ahead for meeting the country’s energy needs in the coming decades, outgoing Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chair Agnes Devanadera said.

Devanadera explained this energy mix—or the breakdown of energy sources of a region or country—should have a definite figure as to how much should be the share of various types of sources such as natural gas and renewable energy (RE).

“There has to be consultations with other agencies, like [the] Neda (National Economic and Development Authority) because, remember, it should go side by side with the development plans for the Philippines,” Devanadera told reporters.

“Now, it is important that we define the energy mix so that we would be able to come out with policies that is supportive of that,” she added.

According to the ERC chief, the power supply mix should be fixed for the next 40 years and not change from time to time or as soon as a new government comes in. It should also have a target increase in capacity per year and per technology.

For instance, the government may consider gradually increasing the available capacity in the next six years: 200 megawatts (MW) for 2023, 300 MW for 2024, 600 MW for 2025, 600 MW for 2026 and 1,000MW for 2027.

Devanadera said this should be coordinated with the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the grid operator, to match the new capacity with the existing available transmission capacity to avoid any stranded or unutilized capacity.

She also said a defined energy mix can be made permanent through legislation.

“In some countries, that’s covered by legislation so that changes in the administration due to election will not affect the energy mix and it will be more difficult to look into, change the energy mix,” she added.

Good for investors

Casting this in stone will also provide investors with a better signal as to where they should invest as investments in power projects are capital intensive and long term in nature.

Coal remains the primary source of energy in the Philippines despite the government’s efforts to scale up the RE footprint in the past years.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has been aggressively pushing for the utilization of nonconventional sources of energy. In its updated Philippine Energy Plan, the agency set a renewable share of 35 percent in the power generation mix by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.

Simultaneously, the current administration has been pursuing the inclusion of nuclear energy into the energy mix. President Duterte issued an executive order (EO) that would pave the way for tapping nuclear power along with alternative energy resources.

Devanadera said the policy to include nuclear energy into the supply mix should be solidified with the enactment of a law that will provide for the policy and regulation of nuclear plants.

This also calls for the establishment of an agency under the turf of the Office of the President (OP) to lay down the foundations necessary for using nuclear power.

“An EO can be issued that creating maybe an agency under the OP just to oversee [nuclear power] because this is like an incubation. They should take baby steps especially since there have been accidents in other countries, so maybe should be looked into,” Devanadera said.

“Now why do we have to give so much importance to nuclear? That’s the only source that can provide big amount, big capacity. We are not just talking about 100 megawatts. We’re talking about bigger capacities and nuclear can deliver that,” she added. INQ