MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines can save up to $3.6 billion through the use of its renewable energy resources, an official from the multi-sectoral Renewable Energy Coalition (REC) said.
In her speech during the ongoing Energy Summit, REC deputy managing director Catherine Maceda said there is a need to put in place appropriate incentives and policy framework to realize these savings.
The REC official said these savings, which would come from reduced oil imports, can be used to build classrooms, send children to school and build health centers and roads.
The country, she said, has considerable renewable energy (RE) resources which are more than sufficient to meet its growing power requirements.
In a study conducted by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Department of Energy, the country has vast renewable energy potential, including that of wind.
Wind resources can generate as much as 76,600 megawatts of potential installed capacity.
Ocean energy resource, on the other hand, has a potential capacity of about 170,000 megawatts – far exceeding the 4,350 additional power requirement of the country in the next six years.
The development of the country’s renewable energy resources, Maceda said, “will help the country achieve the government’s goal of 60 percent energy self-sufficiency by 2010 and help address environmental concerns and climate change imperatives.”
“The measure is visionary in ways that it will establish the environment that will address upcoming demands and preferences for green energy options by consumers,” she said.
Sharing country experiences in renewable energy development, Maceda said the Philippines “should learn from the experiences of other countries like Iceland and Denmark which have not only promoted energy sufficiency through their renewable energy policies, but have also become stewards of RE use in many countries.”
She cited Iceland, for instance, as sourcing 70 percent of its primary needs from renewable energy since 1999, the highest proportion in any country in the world.
The Philippines, like Iceland, has unique geological make-up that will allow it to make optimum use of renewable energy resources.
She noted that Iceland has over 200 volcanoes and 600 hot springs enabling it to harness geothermal energy. Denmark, considered the cradle of modern wind turbine industry, had 2,500 wind turbines as early as the 1900s.
Maceda also stressed that various groups and industry players have been awaiting the enactment of the renewable energy bill.
Among the country’s renewable energy sources, geothermal and hydro are relatively the most developed, accounting for 18 percent and 15 percent of total power generation.
The Philippines is also the world’s second largest producer of geothermal energy next to the United States. Aside from geothermal and hydro, the proposed Renewable Energy Act will provide the needed impetus to promote the development of the country’s wind, solar, biomass, and ocean energy sources.
Creative solutions needed
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, speaking at the same venue, called on concerned private and public sector groups to help draw up “creative solutions” to the energy crisis.
Reyes emphasized the need to “significantly reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels in the medium and long term, while cushioning the immediate impact of high oil prices on vulnerable sectors and the citizenry at large.”
He said confronting the crisis “will require a whole slew of strategic interventions in the management of energy supply and demand. We would need the cooperation of all stakeholders in thinking through the issues and in fashioning creative solutions. That is why the Energy Summit has been structured both as a listening post, where vulnerable sectors can air their concerns and suggestions, and as a venue for collaborative action planning.”
New legislation needed
Meanwhile, House committee on energy chairman Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo said he is willing to author a bill that would help cushion the impact of high oil prices.
Arroyo said Congress is keenly awaiting all inputs so that lawmakers can craft necessary legislation.
“Hopefully, this would help ensure a level playing field where oil players will earn a healthy and honorable return from fully meeting our energy needs,” he said.
Arroyo did not give details on what possible new laws will be created to address the problem of high oil prices.