As the Philippines tries to make good on its climate change commitments, the Department of Energy said the moratorium on building new coal plants stays.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said that the moratorium on new coal-fired plants stays because the market does not favor the construction of more coal plants.
“Insurers do not support it. Investors also find it difficult. The moratorium on building new coal-fired power plants has been set and I do not believe in completely changing policies and therefore sending mixed signals to investors,” the comebacking DoE chief said.
The moratorium was issued in 2020 by Lotilla's predecessor, Alfonso Cusi.
The department has not been accepting applications for new projects since then. Though, the ones that the DOE has already endorsed may continue working.
Lotilla said he is trying to tweak the power generation mix in view of DoE's policy not to accept new coal plants. Although coal provides 58 percent of the energy mix, the country is now looking at increasing the supply from renewable energy sources, now at 22 percent. The rest comes from natural gas at 18 percent and oil 2 percent, he told Business Mirror.
The DoE said the impact of this policy is that there will be hope for other sources of energy to take the place of coal, such as the more flexible source like gas, geothermal, hydro and others. Also, easing out coal in the mix could also pave the way for the entry of nuclear energy.
Lotilla believes that changing policies just because they were issued by previous administrations could drive away investors. “We have to be more considerate and consistent to investors because they get signals from government, especially both foreign and domestic investors who do not make distinctions between one administration and another. What they are looking for is consistency in core policies,” he said.
Before his appointment as DOE Secretary, he had been an independent director of Aboitiz Power Corp. and ACE Enexor, Inc.
His appointment was cleared by the Department of Justice, citing that his position as independent director in two private firms does not fall within the proscription of Section 8 of the Department of Energy Act of 1992.
“Independence is the main ingredient here. I can assure that in so far as I am concerned, and the people I have worked with, that they will be independent in so far as supporting the President’s desire to have a level playing field.
In the final analysis it is when we are fair that the investors will come and our people will benefit. If we skew our decisions one way or the other because we owe appointments through this and that sector then we would have done our people a disfavor and that’s not the kind of legacy we want to leave behind,” he said.
Tags: #DoE, #moratorium, #coalplants, #climatechange