Thursday, May 01, 2008 RP aims for energy independence
ENERGY Secretary Angelo Reyes said the government is now pushing for five-point energy strategy that would assure the country’s independence on imported fuel.
Speaking before the delegates of the recently concluded 4th Lagos Economic Summit, Reyes said the Philippines is now focusing on achieving its program for energy sufficiency in particular the renewable energy program.
"The path toward energy independence rests on a five-point strategy -- accelerate the exploration and development of our indigenous oil and gas resources, develop our renewable energy potentials, increase the use of alternative fuels, enhance our energy efficiency and conservation programs, and form strategic alliances with other countries for energy complementation and technology exchange," Reyes said.
He also stressed that Lagos, which is being groomed to be Africa’s model mega city, can even attain its energy sufficiency if it would focus on it resources.
He said the Philippines and Nigeria have several issues in common such as “high energy costs and tariff structure, uneven distribution of energy infrastructure and reliability and security of power supply."
But he stressed that in terms of oil reserves, the Philippines is lagging behind Nigeria.
By contrast to Nigeria, which is the largest oil producer in Africa, the Philippines' oil reserves and oil production constitute only a mere 0.4 percent and one percent of Nigerian levels, respectively, Reyes said.
In his statement during the summit, Reyes outlined the Philippine government's Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan where energy is one of the fundamental tracks.
He also discussed that the main reforms in the country's energy sector are attaining energy independence by 2010 and restructuring the power sector.
"The government is facilitating the transition of our energy sector to a sustainable system by developing renewable energy as a viable and competitive fuel option," he said.
The geographic circumstance has made the Philippines a potential center of renewable energy development, Reyes noted.
Under the government's Renewable Energy Policy Framework, the Department of Energy (DOE) has set two long-term goals -- to increase RE-based capacity by 100 percent within the next 10 years and to increase non-power contribution to the energy mix by 10 million barrels of fuel oil equivalent in the next 10 years.
In 2001, the country was using 21 percent of its supply requirement from oil-based generation facilities, but from 2006 to 2007, this figure went down to below 10 percent. (MSN/Sunnex)
