Government urged to clear hurdles in renewable energy development

MANILA, Philippines - The government must act to clear hurdles in the development of renewable energy (RE) in the country to make it more competitive with other sources of power, a leading industry expert said.

“Renewable energy is the future but given its present technological investment constraints, clean coal is still the best option for baseload power,” Cebu Energy Development Corp. president Jesus Alcordo said.

Alcordo, who is also a former National Power Corp. (Napocor) president and commissioner of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), made this statement to explain why the company opted to put up a 246 megawatt (MW) clean coal-fired power facility instead of an RE plant.

The CEDC chief said investors have to pour in between $2 million to $5 million per MW to construct an RE facility compared to coal which will require only about $2 million per MW.

In further justifying their move, he said aside from the fact that RE technologies are not yet being fully developed, RE resources are oftentimes intermittent.

He cited that wind power is dependent on the intermittence of wind. The visibility and noise of wind turbines likewise impact on wilderness areas, he added.

“Presently (wind power) needs to be combined with fossil-based technology to properly respond to baseload power requirements of an area.

Alcordo said other challenges could also be found in other forms of RE.

He noted that in solar energy, there is limited storage capacity, thus limiting its ability to supply more power. 

Moreso, he cited the disposal and high cost of replacing batteries in using solar power, aside from the high cost of technology and the land area required to generate solar power.

“For example, a power firm’s 1.6 -MW solar project in Caga-yan de Oro will cost close to $5.6 million using 6,500 solar panels on two hectares of land,” he said.

He said it is the same case with hydropower as these are normally site-specific.  He also took note of the environmental and social impact of creating water reservoir/dam for hydro projects which also impact on water flow and aquatic life.