More coal power plants coming in – DOE

MANILA, Philippines — Renewable energy (RE) is only expected to start dominating the country’s power generation mix by 2028, as more coal-fired power plants are set to come online within the next three years.

“We have incoming coal (power plants) like Masinloc and Mariveles,” Energy Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara told a media briefing.

She clarified that these projects were proposed and approved before the implementation of a coal moratorium late in 2020 that barred the processing of applications for greenfield coal facilities.

“Developing any plant takes time. We cannot stop those coal developments that were approved before the moratorium. They’re going to come in,” Guevara said.

As of May 31, data from the Department of Energy (DOE) showed that nine coal-fired power projects with a combined installed capacity of 2,255 megawatts (MW) are expected to boost the country’s main power grids.

Of the total, five are located in Mariveles in Bataan, two in Masinloc, Zambales and one apiece in Iloilo and Misamis Oriental.

“Renewables will only begin to overtake (coal) by 2028 as more offshore wind (projects) are seen wiping out coal by then,” Guevara said.

In terms of power generation, 62 percent was supplied by coal, while renewables only accounted for 22 percent, despite having a 30 percent share of dependable capacity.

While the country heavily relies on coal, the DOE emphasized that the absolute amount of generation and corresponding emissions are “minimal” compared to those of China and Indonesia.

The agency said this in response to an article published by London-based energy think tank Ember saying the Philippines’ coal share in generation surpassed that of Poland, China and Indonesia last year.

According to the report, the Philippines is leading the surge in coal dependency in Southeast Asia, with its annual coal share growing to 61.9 percent in 2023 from 59.1 percent in 2022.

The DOE, however, said that the Philippines should not be compared with large economies like China and Indonesia due to “significant differences in demographic, economic, and energy profiles.”

“The Philippines cannot be reasonably compared to these larger economies, which have different energy strategies and infrastructure adapted to their specific demographic and economic conditions,” it said.

Citing a Global Energy Monitor Report as of January 2024, the agency said the Philippines only has 12.1 gigawatts (GW) of installed coal power plant capacity, significantly lower than China’s 1,136.7 GW and Indonesia’s 51.6 GW.

“This underscored the vast difference in the scale of energy economic infrastructure among the three countries,” it noted.

The DOE also reiterated the country’s targets of further exploring and accelerating the development and utilization of clean and indigenous energy resources.

Under the Philippine Energy Plan, the country wants to increase RE share in thepower generation mix to 35 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2040.