The Philippines looks like it is set on continuing its reliance on coal fired power plants to ensure that the country has enough baseload capacity until 2030, despite the global push towards green energy.
In a recent energy forum, Department of Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said that while he sees “massive room” for growth for renewable energy, particularly solar and wind, its current contribution to the power mix remained sluggish at 22 percent, which is far from the goal of hitting 35 percent in six years.
Coal, on the other hand, remains a dominant contributor, supplying 62 percent of the country’s energy needs.
Lotilla said that while his department continued to maintain a moratorium on the development of new coal plants, exemptions were in place “for committed, indicative, and expansion plans.” The moratorium was issued late 2020 as part of efforts to make it seem like the country intends to cut dependence on coal and reduce the country’s greenhouse emissions.
Lotilla noted that the country still has more than 6,300 megawatts of dependable coal capacity aged 10 years or younger. The DOE expects those plants to operate for at least another 30 years. Moreover, over 3,400 MW of dependable coal capacities are between 10 and 30 years old, allowing at least a further 10 years of operation.
The Energy Secretary said “maximizing the use of existing energy infrastructure avoids placing an added cost burden on both the economy and consumers.”
Adding to our coal dependency is an expected 2,255 MW of additional coal supply by 2028, part of government’s target to add a total capacity of 11,000 MW, which Lotilla said would help address the country’s projected peak demand growth of 5.3 percent from 2023 to 2028.
Gerry Arances, convenor of Power for People Coalition, said the DOE’s continued utilization of “young” coal plants was “a classic example of the sunk cost fallacy.”
A sunk cost fallacy is a phenomenon where a person is reluctant to abandon a course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial. It has been the reason many people use to justify staying in toxic relationships.
It could be difficult for someone to seriously consider sustainable solutions to a nagging problem, especially when working within a system that doesn’t really encourage looking at a long term viewpoint. However, it must surely be possible to strike a better balance, where short term gains and long term benefits are both considered, especially when it comes to figuring out the energy mix of a country that is among the most vulnerable on the planet to the destructive effects of climate change and global warming.*
