THE Department of Energy (DOE) admitted it has only achieved 10 percent of the government’s renewable energy sufficiency goal seven years after the Renewable Energy Act (Republic Act 9593) was passed into law.
After learning about the matter, Rep. Francisco Ashley Acedillo (Magdalo Party-list) said he plans to sponsor a resolution directing the House Committee on Energy to conduct an inquiry on the status of renewable energy projects in the country.
During the Kapihan sa PIA (Philippine Information Agency) the other day, Engineer Saul Gonzales, chief of the DOE’s Energy Industry Management Division, said that despite the interest of some businessmen to invest in the project, questions on reliability are still being considered.
Gonzales said that a firm invested on a solar power project in San Carlos City but because it needs a huge land area for the solar panels, local agriculture would then be affected.
Geothermal energy in Tongonan, Leyte, which supplies about 60 percent of the power in the Visayas, including the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) grid, cannot be included in the sufficiency goal under the Renewable Energy Act because the project started during the time of the late former president Ferdinand Marcos.
Reduce pollution
Marcos, whose wife Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos hails from Leyte, had said he prioritized the development of geothermal energy because he wanted to reduce pollution and to lower power rates.
Under the law, the Philippines must be sufficient in renewable energy by 2013. However, until this year, only 10 percent of the goal was achieved by DOE, said Gonzales.
This is why former DOE secretary Angelo Reyes roamed around the country, meeting with potential investors to spend on renewable energy that include solar power, wind power, ocean power, bio-diesel, biogas and mini-hydro, among others.
Coal-fired power plants, which are considered contributors to pollution, continue to be the main source of power in the country.
For his part, Acedillo said that DOE through its Renewable Energy Management Bureau and Secretary Jericho Petilla must explain why the campaign on renewable energy has not been prioritized.
Representatives Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north district), Antonio Golez (Iloilo) and Manuel Iway (Negros Oriental) said they will inquire with the House’s Oversight Committee why the Renewable Energy Act failed in the sufficiency goal aspect.