DOE chief assures enough power to support RP growth

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has assured a stable supply of power to support a further expansion of the economy.

Speaking at the Kapihan sa Maynila news forum, Reyes said the government is “encouraging more investments in the power and energy sector to provide additional capacity and prevent a possible power deficiency by 2009 principally in the Visayas and Mindanao.”

He said the government is encouraging more entrants in the power and energy sector, while exerting more efforts to complete critical transmission processes to be able to serve the entire country, especially those areas which still don’t have access to electricity.

He pointed out the energy sector must have the capability to generate power annually at a rate of 1.8 percent higher than the growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) to assure stability and enough capacity to supply power for residential and industrial uses.

The energy chief explained that the “brownouts” experienced in some areas of Manila and other parts of the Philippines during the dry spell was due to lack of water in hydroelectric power dams caused by the lack of rain.

Reyes said the power industry was able to make up for the deficiency by sourcing from its reserves of oil and coal, but which are more expensive sources of energy.

Thus, he stressed it is important for the country to expand its sources of indigenous power, like geothermal and natural gas resources, to take care of future needs and reduce dependence on imported oil and coal.

Reyes disclosed that the Department of Energy  (DOE) will concentrate on the production of more natural gas as a source of energy, reducing the country’s dependence on imported oil and coal.

He pointed out that energy from natural gas, mostly coming from the Malampaya field in Palawan, already comprise 40 percent of Philippine electric power, while 13 percent come hydropower dams.   Geothermal energy make up 17 percent of power generation, while 24 percent come from coal and two percent from imported oil.

Reyes said that the government is striving to improve energy capacity in order to expand electric and power services to industrial, residential, commercial and agricultural sectors and thus help accelerate national economic growth.

He said the government is also expanding its market development of energy sources, including sources of natural gas in other countries, to build up reserves for future need.

The DOE is also not neglecting the production of biofuels in order to increase and diversify the sources of energy for economic development, Reyes said.

“The government is aggressively pursuing the development of more power capacity to achieve a more stable and secure energy supply to power faster economic growth and generate more employment and production,” he added.–Donnabelle L. Gatdula, Philippine Star