Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian (File photo by the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday said the government should now consider nuclear power and other modern technologies to address electricity woes that are expected to last for years to come.
Gatchalian, the vice chair of the Senate energy committee, said the country needs to produce nearly 67,000 megawatts every year to meet the average increase of 6.53 percent in demand for power.
He pointed out that the Philippines remains fully dependent on foreign sources for its supply of coal, making the country only “50 percent self-sufficient” in terms of energy generation.
According to the Department of Energy, the country’s energy generation mix is composed primarily of coal (57.5 percent) with renewable energy accounting for 23.4 percent.
Still costly
Even if the country manages to dramatically increase the share of renewable energy — like solar — the experience of other countries, particularly the United States, suggests that the investment in cash and land would be very costly.
“Because we import a huge chunk of fuel for our electricity supply, any disruption overseas, such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, usually impacts the electricity, fuel cost and livelihood of our poorest folks,” Gatchalian said in a statement.
“This is why we need to continually look for all possible ways to improve energy security and supply of electricity in our country,” he said.
“No matter how controversial,” he added, “we should also look at new technologies for nuclear power, such as smaller modular reactors and Generation IV nuclear reactors.”
Generation IV nuclear reactors are incipient designs that employ developing technologies that are cheaper, safer and more sustainable than the current Generation III reactors.
There are a number of such state-of-the-art designs, but they are not expected to be fully developed until the year 2040.
Tech adoption urged
Gatchalian noted that the country’s sole source of natural gas, the Malampaya gas field off Palawan province, would soon be depleted.
This made it necessary for the government to adopt new technologies in power production, particularly those harnessing clean energy, according to the senator.
“We have to look at emerging technologies such as batteries and other energy storage systems,” Gatchalian said.
“Although this needs a little more time, we have to look at these emerging technologies since we also have no laws or any single regulation on these,” he added.