V.

Problems and Prospects

Power Shortage
The shortage is part of a decades-old weakness in the Philippine power sector (Moss, 2014).

Source: Platts World Electric Power Plant Database (December 2014 release)
Note: Planned additions reflect projects currently under construction.
As the 12th largest nation in the world, the Philippines has a population of more than 100
million people spread over 7,000 islands, which faces several electricity infrastructure challenges

(Jell, 2015). This could only mean that the countrys concern over resource sufficiency in its
power sector is challenged to add supply quickly enough to keep up with growing demand.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Department of

Energy.

The three main island regions of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao each have distinct
generation profiles. In the northern part of the country, Luzons capacity is mainly
powered by fossil fuels, with anticipated capacity additions of more than 500 MW, most
of which will be coal-fired. Visayas, in central Philippines, currently relies heavily on its
geothermal resources, but has plans to add 300 MW of coal capacity by 2017. In the
south, Mindanao relies heavily on its hydropower resources, with plans for both
additional hydropower capacity and additional coal-fired generation to increase system
reliability. (Morris, 2015)

However, one of the problems facing the Philippines Electric Industry is the power shortage.
Instances like dry seasons would reduce the power supply. As Rood (2015) states that,
hydropower and other major gas production facility supplying power plants will be shut down,
so that electricity reserves will be running lower during dry seasons. Moreover, the latest major
power shortage was triggered by a breakdown of several critical power plants in the country
(Ronquillo, 1992). The shutdown of (i) 300-MW Malaya oil thermal unit 1; (ii) 100-Limay Unit
1; (iii) 382-Pagbilao Unit 1 and lastly 264-MW Sta. Rita gas plant module 40 of Luzon power
grid (Olchondra, 2015). Moreover, 6-8 hour outage or known as blackouts plague Mindanao
(Regalado, 2016). Likewise, hundreds of power plants been damaged by natural calamities such
as 1990 killer earthquake and more especially in the powerful typhoon Uring that swept the
Visayas.
The Remedies to the Power Crisis
The nation's power sector has been through years of transformation. One of the pillars under the
ERA of the Aquino Administration is ensuring energy security. This means that the government
is considering and looking at various options that will address the countrys increasing energy
demand (Ricardo, 2016). In Luzon, a total of 2,300 megawatts will be added to the grid from
June this year until September 2019 (De Guzman, 2015). In 2009, 647 cities and towns in the
Philippines and some 15 million Filipinos participated in the Earth Hour, saving 611 megawatthours of electricity during the one-hour period (Alano, 2015). According to Anonymous (2014),
renewable energy is the best solution to power crisis. Renewable energy can provide a stable
source of electricity at a constant price for years to come (Ibay, Yan, & NG, 2016). This is also a
good solution because the Philippine government would appreciate not having to deal with
constant rolling blackouts (Blaine, 2016).

Renewable energy in the Philippines is affordable in long term (Santos, 2013). This would also
lower the amount of money the Philippines would have to pay to get the electricity to power the
country. Besides, Philippines is a good place for renewable energy investment because the
economy is growing quite fast. Then there is also a market, the electricity demand is there
(Jalandoni, 2015). This may not be the best solution to the other countries but it would be a great
help and a good solution for the Philippines.

The Renewable Energy

Renewable energy can bring jobs, cost savings, and money to the Philippines. Globally, 2.3 to
3.5 million people may be working either directly/indirectly in renewable. In the Philippines,
solar entrepreneurs say that for each 10 MW plant in the country, they hire 1000 people during
construction for 6 months and 100 people full time. Renewable Energy has the technological
potential to contribute more than 50% of the countrys energy by 2020 from geothermal
(28.90%), Hyrdo (22.97%), Wind and solar (2.90%) and Biomass (.73%). Already in 2010, a
whopping 42.15% of the countrys total primary energy supply came from renewable energy
resources with geothermal providing the lions share at 22.40%, modern Biomass 13.59%, Hydro
6.15% and the brand new wind and solar industry providing 0.1% (Anonymous, 2013).

Wind
In 1999, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) released the Wind Energy
Resource Atlas of the Philippines (Figure 4), which details a national-scale wind-resource
analysis and mapping results for the country. The study claims that the country has 11,055 km2
of windy land estimated to have good-to-excellent wind resource potential. Wind speeds at these
sites range from 6.4 metres per second (m/s) to 10.1 m/s, with wind-power-density values of
3001,250 Watts per square metre (W/m2). The GIS-based technique produces high-resolution
(1 km2) maps of the annual average wind resource. Along with wind resource distribution, the
maps highlight seasonal and diurnal variability and other salient wind characteristics
(Anonymous, 2012).

The Philippine DOE had awarded 41 wind power contracts under the 2008 renewable energy law
(Republic Act No. 9513), to install 1,887 MW of total generating capacity. According to the
DOE, 87 MW6 of wind capacity has been installed and 900 MW is under construction (Villar,
2008).

Solar
Following the renewable energy law (Republic Act No. 9513), the DOE has more recently
increased the national solar power capacity target to 500 MW, under an amendment in March
2015. The government has awarded 61 solar contracts, aiming for a total capacity of 1,014 MW.
Most solar projects (approx. 700 MW) will be developed in the province of Luzon; the largest of
these is a 100 MW solar PV project in Bataan (Gianvenuti, Fichaux, & Jain, 2014).

Bio-Energy
As of April 2014, 65 biomass projects were awarded, and the total grid-connected installed
capacity was 143 MW. Due to incremental improvements in agricultural production, as well as
changes in crop yields and land cover in the Philippines over the last 10 years, a review of past
resource assessments must be performed (Overend, 2008). This should highlight, in particular,
current land utilization for crops and the economic viability of bio-energy in different parts of the
country. The environmental and socio-economic sustainability of developing different bio-energy
value chains should also be evaluated, taking account of specific local conditions. Statistical and
spatial-explicit evaluations of biomass resources should be reviewed periodically, in order to
examine and update the amounts and geographic distribution of resources available or potentially
available in a region (Anonymous, 2014).

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