MANILA –
Energy secretary Alfonso Cusi on Wednesday last week underscored the importance
of tapping energy from all possible sources, including nuclear, as the country lacks
adequate capacity to date.
In his speech during the handover ceremony for the Official Phase 1 Mission
Report of the Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Review (NIR) Mission in Taguig
City, Cusi said the government is continuously looking for additional sources
of capacity, especially because the supply of the Malampaya gas field northwest
of Palawan is expected to be depleted by 2027.
Cusi said he and several other Philippine energy officials were in China a few
days ago for the petroleum exploration meeting wherein a possible tie-up is
being considered to utilize resources from the West Philippine Sea.
“That effort is actually in search for Philippine energy security and we would
like to tap the West Philippine Sea resources so that we can be assured of
energy security especially that Malampaya will be depleted by 2027. And of
course, we are all looking for other sources of energy,” he added.
Among the options that are being looked into to boost capacity is geothermal
energy.
Cusi said such option should not be questioned because of the current
situation.
The Energy chief also questioned the department’s earlier policy of putting a
cap on the share of energy sources for the country, noting this is “uncalled
for this time”.
He said developed countries put a cap on their energy sources because they have
enough energy supply.
“But the Philippines is different. We have shortage of power. We lack capacity.
We need to build capacity soon otherwise we’re going to have brownouts and we
don’t like that. That’s bad for the country, bad for business, bad for our
economy,” he reasoned.
Cusi further said this is the reason why Philippine officials have been
encouraging foreign investors to invest in the country’s power sector, among
others.
For geothermal energy, he
said the national position is having a policy for this source to be included in
the country’s energy mix.
“From there that we will go and make this legal framework, regulatory
framework,” he added.
A law is needed for this bid but Cusi said they “will go in phases” such as the
survey of a third party to address gaps.
Results of the survey, which was presented during the event Wednesday, showed
that the country is committed to a systematic approach to finalizing its
nuclear power strategy and is completing the associated infrastructure
development.
Cusi said they will meet with officials of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) by December to submit the country’s action plan on how to close
the gap.
He said measures toward the move to tap geothermal energy have been delayed for
three years because this is a complicated process.
He is optimistic that approval of policies and regulations will be finished
within the Duterte administration, but not the materialization of the power
plant itself.
The country has an existing nuclear power plant, known as the Bataan Nuclear
Power Plant, although it was never used. It was constructed in the 1980s in
Morong, Bataan to secure capacity following the 1973 oil crisis.
Originally, the plan was to construct a power plant with two nuclear reactors
but only one reactor was constructed costing about $2.3 billion.
The plant was mothballed on fears of similar incidents following the 1979 Three
Mile Island accident in the United States and the Chernobyl disaster in what
was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
There were also myths about the plant’s location that energy officials have
denied.
These myths include that the plant was constructed on top a fault and it was
built on eruptive products on the flanks of Mount Natib, which is a dormant
volcano.
“Had we adopted nuclear, the nuclear that the Philippines envisioned then, in
the late 1960s or the early 70s, the Philippines economic landscape would have
been different,” Cusi said.
“The project has been demonized and up to now, that is affecting us, that’s
making life difficult for us. But as I’ve said before all the accusations, all
the allegations about the nuclear or the BNPP (Bataan Nuclear Power Plant) have
been answered by time. And we have proven them wrong,” he added.(PNA)
