TAGUIG CITY - Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi wants to push the development of geothermal power among the country’s renewable resources to help attain energy security and boost Republic Act 9513, also known as the Renewable Energy (RE) Act of 2008.
In a meeting with key officials of the Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday (24 June) via videoconferencing, Secretary Cusi directed his team to prepare a formal directive that would contain initiatives and guidelines on how to promote geothermal energy development and increase its utilization, as said resource is indigenous to the country.
“I would like to issue an order to really look deeply and comprehensively into how we can develop geothermal. I have been really thinking about it, assessing how we are addressing RE,” Secretary Cusi told the officials.
Present during the team meeting were DOE Senior Undersecretary Jesus Cristino P. Posadas, Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella, Undersecretary Emmanuel P. Juaneza, DOE-Renewable Energy Management Bureau Director Mylene C. Capongcol, and Electric Power Industry Management Bureau Director Mario C. Marasigan.
In promoting RE, Secretary Cusi said it is best for the country to focus on the resources that are abundant available, and extend all the necessary support to encourage its development through innovative policies and strategies.
He cited Vietnam as an example, where the country focused on developing the strength of its hydro resources.
“They are very strong on hydro and that’s what they are developing. They are giving priority to their hydro. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have the other sources, but they focused on the strength of this particular resource,” he noted.
Secretary Cusi said geothermal power plants may be expensive to develop and may
take a longer time to build, but it would be able to generate the kind of power that will help sustain the energy security of the Philippines in the long-term.
“This is the time to sit down and explore ways to support geothermal, because one installation will easily wipe out the 1,000MW installation of solar. I am for RE that would help improve the energy security of the country,” he pointed out.
“Let us break our head, think on how we can promote this source of energy – renewable that is really indigenous to us,” he added. “Eto, proven na natin itong geothermal. Let’s go for it and regain our previous global standing as one of the top countries in geothermal development,” he said, noting that the Philippines used to be number one in the field.
To date, the Philippines continues to have the highest RE generation mix within the Southeast Asian region. In 2018, RE accounted for about 33.2% of our country’s total primary energy supply. The figure is already 10% ahead of the regional target set forth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation, which seeks to increase the RE component on the ASEAN total primary energy mix to 23% by the year 2025.
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