THE Department of Energy (DOE) said Mindanao will need an additional of 10,400 megawatts (MW) of additional capacity by 2040 to be able to sustain its power demand.
However, DOE assistant secretary Redentor Delola, during the 2018 Mindanao Energy Investment Forum at the Grand Regal Hotel on Thursday, October 11, said Mindanao will still be able to meet its power requirement between before 2040.
At its current state, Delola said the Mindanao power grid still has more than enough reserves to meet requirements in the coming years. There is currently a total of 3.48 gigawatt of installed capacity in Mindanao from 20 grid connected power plants and 33 embedded power plants. Coal-fired power plants accounts for 53 percent of the island's power supply while the remaining comes from renewable energy (43%) and oil-fired power plant (7%)
He said should the additional 764.9 MW from committed power projects enter the Mindanao grid in the next two years, Mindanao will be enjoying a surplus of power supply to as much as 1,400 MW.
"After that, Mindanao will really need additional capacity," Delola said.
To address this looming problem and not to repeat the Mindanao power crisis four years ago, DOE is looking for power investors to put up new power plants in Mindanao.
Delola said their early campaign now for new power investors will help avoid any power crisis in the future.
He said they are expecting 1,332.43 MW of committed power projects to come in between 2018 to 2025. There are also 1,937.28 MW of indicative power projects that will hopefully push through and be established before 2025.
"We also have various supporting measures in place which facilitate the implementation of energy projects such as Executive Order (EO) No. 30 and the Ease of Doing Business Law," Felix William B. Fuentebella, DOE Undersecretary, said.
The EO 30 creates the Energy Investment Coordinating Council, which streamlines regulatory procedures affecting energy projects. Meanwhile, the Ease of Doing Business Law prescribes three, seven, or 20 days action on requests made by investors or businesses.