ArchivesOctober 2017DOE calls for energy conservation

DOE calls for energy conservation

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Officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) are asking the public to help conserve energy, saying that power does have limits and the country’s energy requirement is getting bigger.

The DOE officials sounded the call as the agency completed Thursday a three-day activity on product labeling and consumer rights, among others, here in Dumaguete City.

Isagani Soriano, the current division chief of the lighting and appliance testing laboratory under the Energy Research Testing Laboratory Services of the DOE, told reporters that the country is lacking in energy supply.

“Kulang talaga tayo (we are really lacking ) in energy,” Soriano said.

In fact, he disclosed that the DOE has a program up to 2040 to meet the energy requirement of the country, which will “go (up) as much as 34,000 MW”.

Energy is not limitless and therefore people have to cooperate to protect the environment and save on energy, Soriano stressed.

The DOE had conducted a public consultation as well as information and education on product labeling, particularly for items covered by the regulation, such as air conditioners and refrigerators, as well as lighting, specifically LED, to help in energy conservation.

For his part, Antonio Labios, the DOE regional director for Central Visayas or Region 7, disclosed that the current energy outlook in the Visayas region is normal.

He said the total generating capacity from a mixed source of geothermal, coal and solar is pegged at 2,199 MW.

The peak demand in the region is 1,860 MW and so there is a reserve of some 339 MW, way above the required 150MW contingency reserve, Labios explained.

Geothermal is the biggest contributor of energy in the Visayas, with sources in Palinpinon, Negros Oriental and Tongonan, Leyte, according to Director Labios, apparently referring to the geothermal power plants of the Energy Development Corporation (EDC) in these areas.

EDC generates 701MW for Leyte and 222.5 MW for Negros.

According to him, more than 50 percent of the power requirement is supplied by geothermal, with coal generating about 25 to 30 percent.

Solar power has around 300MW capacity in Negros Island alone, however, this cannot be totally relied on it is not baseload power and is a variable source.

It does not work 24/7 as it is dependent on the availability of the sun, that is why there are some people who want to invest in storage facilities to store energy from solar that can be used at nighttime, he added.

When asked on what to do with the excess solar energy in Negros which is off grid, Dir. Labios admitted that transmission facilities is another problem even though sometimes there may be excess power in the region.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the country’s power transmission company, has plans to upgrade their connectivity, Labios disclosed, such as connecting Toledo in Cebu to San Carlos in Negros Occidental.

If there is excess power either way, then it can be transferred to an area that needs more, he said.

Meanwhile, Dir. Labios noted that Negros Island does not want coal-fired power plants here because “as a matter of policy”, the people, local government officials and non-government organizations are against coal.

Cebu, having the biggest requirement, has a “practical approach as long as the (coal power) technology used pass environmental laws, rules and regulations”, Labios said.

The Therma Visayas coal-fired power plant in Toledo City generates 300MW, with two units each at 150MW, according to Labios.

The company plans to start up this year for commercial operation one of its two plants, he added. (Judy Flores Partlow/PNA)

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