Energy department bats for coal-fired power plants
Saturday, March 6, 2010
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OZAMIZ CITY – The Department of Energy (DOE) is calling on the people to open their minds to the prospect of developing the coal-fired power energy in the city.
Coal will remain a major alternative fuel for power generation in the next 20 years, DOE said.
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Energy Undersecretary Zamzamin Ampatuan said by the end of 2030, the primary energy supply outlook of the country has listed coal as the number one source of energy followed by oil, natural gas, solar, hydro, geothermal, biomass, and nuclear power, as indicated in the Philippine Energy Plan (PEP).
“At this time, people should be able to understand that our hydro-powered plants have been plagued with the lack of water not only due to the El Nino phenomenon but because this has always been the case every summer when the level of water sources of the hydropower plants are depleted. Thus, we have to find alternative sources, aside from hyrdro, if we want ample supply of power. And that’s exactly what we need now,” Ampatuan said.
Ampatuan, who opened the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Campaign on the 20-year PEP held at the Royal Garden Hotel here, said after 20 years, the Philippines will have a final energy demand for the different sectors, particularly the transport, industry, agriculture, residential and commercial sectors.
He stressed that the development of a coal-powered plant to answer the need for electric power is much better compared to lighting a “lampara” (wick lamp) or using kerosene within the confines of a room.
Ampatuan also stressed the need for adoption of clean coal technologies to address the environmental and social acceptability issues that hamper the development of local coal resources to increase local coal consumption.
So far, Northern Mindanao only has one coal-fired power plant, the STEAG State Power plant located in Villanueva, Misamis Oriental, which generates about 210 megawatts of electric power. (PIA-10)
