Sual officials bat for one more power plant

Sual Mayor Roberto Arcinue. Photo Credit: Politiko South Luzon

SUAL, Pangasinan – Officials here led by Mayor Roberto Arcinue share the view that construction of more power plants is the most effective way of providing cheaper electricity and preventing another power crisis as what happened in the past.

They made the observation after noting that another multi-national company is planning to put up a

1,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant here.

This town already hosts Team Energy’s 1,200-MW Sual power station, the country’s biggest coal-fired

power plant, located in Barangay Pangascasan, here ,which began operating in 1999.

“Our population is growing and we need an additional plant to serve the people of Luzon, North Luzon,

and Metro Manila,” Arcinue said.

Power rates in the Philippines are the third highest in Asia and fourth in the Asia-Pacific region, cited by the survey done by the International Energy Consultants (IEC), an Australia-based consulting firm

specializing in Asian power markets.

The Philippines’s power rates are also 16^th most expensive in the world.

The survey said that one major reasons why other Asian countries have lower electricity prices is that

Philippines’ power generation capacity is low, with total primary energy supply per person per year of

only 0.44 tons of oil.

With this situation, officials here welcome the possible entry of another coal power plant the way

President Duterte ushered the construction of 135-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Iloilo province in

November last year, and the 405-megawatt coal power plant in Misamis Oriental in September 2016.

Arcinue echoed what then Davao City Mayor Duterte said during his campaign for the presidency that he

saw nothing wrong with the government’s plan to put up new coal-fired power plants to boost power

supply in the country.

“You open the Philippines for all power players, I guarantee you the electricity will become cheaper,”

Duterte said during the second presidential debate at the University of the Philippines Cebu.

Serving now as the country’s chief executive, President Duterte said the Philippines will continue to use

coal in power generation but will implement new technologies to minimize emissions.

“At this time, whoever is the president of the Philippines would always contend with coal. There’s so

much coal still that can be utilized by civilization for the next 50 to 70 years, ” Duterte said during the

inauguration of the coal-fired power plant in Misamis Oriental.