MANILA, Philippines – If policy makers had not fiddled over the feed-in tariffs on renewable energy and driven away investors, the current power shortfall would have been greatly mitigated, Sen. Edgardo Angara said Sunday.
“If we didn’t take too much time debating, nagpa jogging-jogging,” then substantial investments in RE would have been put in place two years ago, and by this time, the country would have reduced its reliance on expensive, imported energy and the people would not be facing crippling outages in Mindanao and parts of the Visayas, Angara said in a radio interview.
He praised Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras for his vision and boldness, but slammed the “cowardly” Department of Finance for its “limited” concern about losing revenue to investors in terms of the rate to be set for their plugging into the national grid.
Renewable energy is ideal, he said, because "these are indigenous and within our control." Supply is predictable, and therefore price volatilities are avoided, he added, noting the anxiety over world crude prices reaching $150 per barrel.
Asked if the supposed crisis is confined to Mindanao, Angara said, “this is a rolling crisis. It started in Mindanao, but will creep to the Visayas.” In Luzon, he said, there is “sufficient reserve for next two years to meet demand,” but definitely, in Mindanao and even the Visayas, the situation is problematic.
That’s why, he added, the country can’t afford the status quo, especially in Mindanao where no power plants were built in the last four years.
“Because of inaction, we are facing crisis, not simply a problem of rising demand.” Four years ago, if the energy renewable law had been fully implemented when passed, some $5-B investments in hydro, biomass and solar energy were waiting.
Most investments have since been aborted and moved to Cambodia and Thailand, Angara explained, because Filipino policy makers could not agree on the tariffs.
source: interaksyon.com
