We need to look at Aboitiz Power's solar roof decks
We are getting some disturbing news. The Philippine economy experienced the most significant decline in the region in terms of competitiveness dragged down by "worsening" tourism, employment, and public finances, as well as concerns about the country's education system. The country fell nine notches to 50 out of 63 economies tracked in this year's World Competitiveness Ranking published by Switzerland-based business school International Institute for Management Development. The Philippines also slipped to 13th place from its 11th ranking in 2017 among 14 Asia-Pacific nations. So what are we going to do about this situation?
Meanwhile, gasoline prices have skyrocketed thanks to the world prices of crude oil, so are we to expect a rise in our electric bills? Just a few days ago, The Philippine STAR featured a story that a Chinese company is putting up several merchant coal power plants in the country with combined capacity of around 1,500 megawatts as part of a deal with China's state-run National Energy Administration. This was according to Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi.
As part of the memorandum of understanding between the two nations, Cusi said the China Energy Development Corp. is putting up several demonstration plants --two in Cebu and one in Luzon. Cusi also said: "We have talked with NEA of China to help us put up merchant power plants in the Philippines to trade electricity in the spot market to put a downward pressure on the price." While Cusi said the power plants will be coal-fired, China Energy assured the technology is "ultra supercritical," meaning it would require less coal per megawatt-hour leading to lower emissions.
In June last year, President Duterte signed Executive Order 30, giving priority status to energy projects. It also created the Energy Investment Coordinating Council to streamline the regulatory procedures affecting energy projects of national importance. These energy projects will meet the additional power requirements from 2020 to 2022 since the agency set 10,000MW of additional capacities during that time. This is good in the sense that at least we know the Duterte government is addressing our future energy requirements.
Meanwhile, I also read another article that the Philippines, with a population of more than 100 million, aims to double its power generation capacity by 2030 to prevent major power failures, like what happened in the mid-nineties. So this brings us back to the issue of nuclear energy, when the Philippines abandoned the Bataan Nuclear Powered Plant when the Cory administration came into power in 1986. But resorting to nuclear power to solve energy gap, according to Philippine Nuclear Research Institute Director Carlo Arcilla, remains a political issue. We left the nuclear club just in time when the Russian Chernobyl power plant exploded and spread its nuclear fallout in many parts of Europe.
While the politicians debate on whether or not we should join the nuclear club, it is a reality today that our electricity rates remain one of the highest in Southeast Asia. Data from the Department of Energy show that the Philippines has the most expensive rates in the Asian region, with P7.49 per kilowatt-hour for commercial users and P8.90/kwH for households. But with technology advancing as quickly as we can blink an eye, we have to look elsewhere for our power needs.
Last week, Aboitiz Power launched its first rooftop solar power project in Cebu with the launching of their new unit, Aboitiz Power Distributed Energy Inc. Aboitiz Power just installed a 100-kilowatt solar panel on the rooftop of the Aboitiz headquarters in Banilad last March. I just took a peek at this solar roof panel when I flew my drone over the Cebu Country Club and its environs. Their headquarters is just beside the club.
Solar energy is something we ought to look into, after all the solar panels have become inexpensive and more importantly, we live in a tropical area, where we mostly have rain or the scorching sun. Perhaps what we ought to find out from AP is the cost of installing a 100-kilowatt rooftop solar panel. Meanwhile, we expect Congress to come up with new legislation giving incentives to companies that invest resources into solar roof panels. This is the only way we can recover from this kind of investments in solar panels.
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