Coal blamed for costly electricity in Mindanao
As government moves to craft plans to reduce Mindanao’s dependence on coal, clean energy and consumers rights group Power for People Coalition (P4P) on Friday resurfaced the drastic role of coal in raising the cost of electricity in the region.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez in a virtual briefing revealed that the government is exploring acquiring coal-fired power plants in Mindanao and eventually shutting them down upon improving the generation capacity of the Agus Pulangi Hydro power plants.
“We welcome this discourse on moving towards a future where Mindanao rids itself of coal, as people have already suffered much from its proliferation,” said Gerry Arances, Convenor of P4P.
The group, a nationwide coalition of consumers and clean energy advocates, has staunchly opposed the rapid expansion of the Mindanao coal fleet in recent years, as it not only did it not properly address the region’s power needs, it also created more problems.
“On top of environmental degradation and issues on land rights of indigenous groups, among many others, coal made sure that ordinary Filipinos in Mindanao would have a hard time affording their electricity bills. Mindanao is now awash with coal; it is generating more supply than the grid is able to absorb, and consumers are made to pay for electricity that does not get used up. Equal electricity access is a whole other matter as coal had also been unable to electrify many communities. We of course would like to hear more on what the Department of Finance and the government have in mind, but this is the reality that we hope they do not forget when they imagine the road map for energy transition in Mindanao,” said Rara Ada, Coordinator of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice Mindanao (PMCJ Mindanao).
A total 1.837 GW of coal capacity is currently installed in the region. 4 out of the five coal power plants producing this capacity entered commercial operation only from 2015 onwards.
The group would also continue to push for the expansion of renewable energy technologies in Mindanao.
“Regardless, DOF is right in saying that Agus Pulangi’s potential of supplying cheap and clean electricity, as it was doing before, is not being realized today. We hope the complaints we would be filing would contribute in tackling this and help make way for more renewable energy in Mindanao,” Arances added.
