DOE: Reduce energy use, help avert power outage

By Carlito Dar

BAGUIO CITY -- Department of Energy Secretary Carlos Jerico Petilla urged the public to reduce energy consumption to avert shortage in supply with the looming power crisis this summer.

Petilla, in a press conference here last week,  said  power supply can still meet demand with a small margin of reserve but  problem  comes when a power plant bogs down.

He urged the public to reduce use of  energy  to help prevent power outage.

He said government, through  Energy Regulatory Commission, has  allocated P500 million for  interruptible load program for imminent power crisis this summer.

On increasing the country’s power generation capacity, Petilla  reported  there are 23 coal power plants coming in.

DOE is also focusing on renewable energy generation to ensure mix of renewable and conventional energy to address country’s long-term power supply and demand requirements.

Petilla said 30 percent of energy supply in the country at present comes  from RE ( bio-mass, geo-thermal, hydro, solar and wind power).

This he said is a favorable ratio they want to maintain in keeping up with the increasing demand.

He said as much as government wants to have more renewable energy sources, at present  it will only give more burden or additional cost to power consumers as REs cannot commercially compete yet with coal-fired power plants with the higher cost of investment.

Petilla was official visit to Baguio to grace opening of Renewable Energy Management Bureau planning-workshop here to craft the bureau’s 2015 execution plan.

In the opening program, all the REMB divisions presented to the secretary  their 2014 accomplishments, and shared their experiences and challenges in renewable energy management.