THE Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) and Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (ICSC) forged a partnership Thursday, September 15, in restoring an energy mix of at least 50 percent renewable energy (RE) in Mindanao by 2030 as it gears towards countering recent developments on dominance of fossil-based energy sources.
Minda Deputy Executive Director and head of investment promotions, international relations and public affairs Romeo Montenegro yesterday said in an interview that they identified “some way forward and timelines” on pushing for more RE projects in the island.
Earlier, Montenegro said Minda projected that fossil fuels, mostly coal, would account for 80 percent of Mindanao’s energy mix by 2018, a 180-degree reversal of the 2015 situation where RE accounts more than half of the island’s energy mix.
“Share of fossil fuels in the energy mix is rising, and Mindanao has yet to fully tap clean, renewable and indigenous power sources,” Montenegro said earlier.
In 2017, Minda projected that Mindanao’s energy mix will be composed of 49 percent coal, 18 percent oil-based, 29 percent hydro, three percent geothermal and one percent biomass.
Way forward to RE
ICSC Executive Director Red Constantino said in a statement that promoting a larger share of sustainable energy, the collaborative vision (of ICSC and Minda) “will restore a more diverse energy mix in Mindanao and lay the groundwork for a multibillion-dollar industry able to generate jobs, reduce electricity bills, and propel economic and industrial development.”
“Coal is no longer considered as viable investments it once was. Compared to solar, wind and other renewable technologies, the levelized cost of electricity produced by coal is higher according to studies conducted by institutions such as the U.S. Energy Information Administration and Lazard,” he added.
ICSC Senior Policy Advisor and former National Renewable Energy Board chairman, Pete Maniego also claimed that apart from the harmful effects of greenhouse gases, “allowing coal to expand in Mindanao and the rest of the country would lock up power investments in the next 40 years, and lock out the far larger potential of investments in renewable energy to power long-term development.”
Due to its archipelagic nature, Maniego said “the shift from centralized to distributed generation will enable the Philippines to take advantage of its considerable renewable energy sources, advances in smart grid technologies, and expected lower cost in power storage.”
RE initiatives, programs and plans
Montenegro said that Mindanao is most viable for hydro and biomass energy projects as well as solar and geothermal.
For instance, he bared that 15 provinces in Mindanao are viable for biomass, capable to produce a total of 843 megawatts (MW), of which 150MW can be pursued at 10MW each for identified province and 15 for small hydro with potential capacity at 1,000MW.
Minda previously launched a flagship program, the One Stop Facilitation and Processing Center (OSFMC), geared at accelerating the deployment of renewable energy projects in Mindanao.
As of June 2016, a total of 260 RE projects are being monitored and facilitated by One-Stop Facilitation and Monitoring Center (OSFMC) of Minda resulting to 3, 512.2MW potential capacity available by 2020.
The OSFMC, an initiative of Minda, has been replicated nationwide through Energy Virtual One Shared System (Evoss).
“Our goals are to help sustain favorable energy mix for Mindanao by fast-tracking approval process of RE projects and deploy at least 200MW additional RE sources per year between 2020 and 2030,” Montenegro said.
Also, full implementation of the OSFMC, enforcing the Green Energy Option Policy, piloting Renewable Energy Portfolio Standards (RPS) in Mindanao, addressing constraints by removing barriers, laying down effective policy and regulatory framework, providing innovative financial approaches for scaling up RE projects and strengthening institutional coordination among relevant government agencies.
Long-term plan
The plan (2013 to 2030) is a long-term energy plan to ensure energy security, achieve optimal energy pricing, and developing a sustainable energy system.
It complements the Philippine Energy Plan and has been pursued by the Mindanao Power Monitoring Committee of Minda, in collaboration of DOE.
Series of public consultation were held in 2013 and 2014 and has been completed this year which is now set for publishing and distribution.
