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ACTW (Problems)

The Philippines faces persistent power shortages due to decades of underinvestment in electricity infrastructure and challenges in meeting growing demand. The country relies heavily on fossil fuels and hydropower, which are vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations. Major power plant outages have also triggered blackouts. To remedy the crisis, the government is pursuing various options to boost energy security and supply, including adding over 2,300 megawatts of capacity by 2019. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are seen as promising long-term solutions that could provide stable, affordable power and reduce reliance on imports. However, developing renewable infrastructure will take time and significant investment.

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98 views4 pages

ACTW (Problems)

The Philippines faces persistent power shortages due to decades of underinvestment in electricity infrastructure and challenges in meeting growing demand. The country relies heavily on fossil fuels and hydropower, which are vulnerable to seasonal fluctuations. Major power plant outages have also triggered blackouts. To remedy the crisis, the government is pursuing various options to boost energy security and supply, including adding over 2,300 megawatts of capacity by 2019. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are seen as promising long-term solutions that could provide stable, affordable power and reduce reliance on imports. However, developing renewable infrastructure will take time and significant investment.

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Julrick Cubio Egbus
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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

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