WWF urges gov’t to integrate RE solutions to ease power woes

MANILA, Philippines - The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) urged the government to do more to actively integrate renewable energy (RE) solutions in the country and help address next year’s looming power shortage.

“RE must be integrated as the primary solution to the power development plan of the Philippines,” WWF said over the weekend as it renewed calls for the government to shift to renewable energy as its main source of power for the country.

“The predicted shortfall that the DOE has stated will mostly affect intermediate and peak loads. Thus, intermediate or peak power plants are required to address coming needs,” WWF said.

It said that the conventional solution would be to inject more bunker or diesel power plants into the mix to meet demand.

“However, the average cost of power generated by such power plants starts at P12 per kilowatt-hour, making the cost of this electricity extremely expensive,” the group said.

On the other hand, WWF said that peak demand periods for highly industrialized grids such as the Luzon grid, usually cover the period from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m, when demand for electricity is at its highest.

“The optimal operating hours for certain RE options like solar correspond precisely with these periods of high demand. Relatively speaking, the installation of solar arrays takes much less time than large fossil-fuel dependent systems. They can certainly help augment power during intermediate and peak demand periods. Incidentally, this period is also called the ‘sunshine period’ for solar energy, when solar panels absorb and generate the most energy,” WWF said.

At the same time, the group said there are other indigenous renewable energy options available in the country such as hydro and biomass that can be used to complement existing base-load and intermediate power plants.