PHL needs weaning on renewable energy — PCCI

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) on Wednesday pushed for the gradual and calibrated introduction on the use of renewable energy in the Philippines. In a statement, PCCI president Francis Chua said the country needs “some sense of urgency" in installing base load plants to support solar, wind, and ocean power technology, which are “still in early development stages." “The challenge is to determine how much more of renewable energy plants the country needs or should install to meet the goal of power security or self sufficiency and competitiveness," he said. Chua also described as “wise, deliberate, and judicious" the decision of the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Board to set the installation capacity for renewable energy plants at 790 megawatts (MW). “The 790 MW total should be sufficient enough to determine the viability of the proposed [feed-in tariff allowance] rates and to allow renewable energy investors/producers to recoup their investments while maturing their technologies and expanding their operations," Chua explained. The Philippines already sources 3,291 MW from hydroelectric power plants, 1,953 MW from geothermal power plants, and 64 MW from renewable energy sources — which, on aggregate, comprises 34 percent of the nationwide renewable energy power mix, according the PCCI. —PE/VS