DOE gives hope to Sual residents

SUAL, Pangasinan – A large group of residents here who call themselves Sual Proprogress welcome the statement made by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi in favor of using coal as main source of energy to sustain the country’s economic development.

During the budget hearing on next year’s budget of the Department of Energy, SecretaryCusi stressed that the country would still rely on coal-fired power plants as main source of energy because it is cheaper than renewable energy sources like solar and windmills.

“Coal still serves a purpose for our baseload. Saying that we should have a moratorium on any technology must be a disservice to our energy security,” Cusi told the members of Congress.

This development elated the officers and members of the Sual Proprogress who support the planned construction of a second coal-fired power plant in the municipality to be put up by Korean Electric Power Company or KEPCO.

Worth about two billion US dollars, the project is projected to provide thousands of jobs  for Sual residents aside from millions of revenues for the municipality, they said.

During his presentation to the Appropriations panel, DOE officials noted that coal represents 52.1 percent of the country’s power generation mix in 2018, up from 49.6 in 2017.

Cusi said the country’s economic development would suffer a big setback if it stops relying on coal as main source of energy, adding that the contribution of carbon emission “is not only from coal plants. It’s also from the transportation sector.”

This means that the Philippines is heavily dependent on coal, which pro-environment warriors have dubbed a “dirty” power source.

There are presently 16 coal-fired power plants in the Philippines, with two more undergoing construction. Despite this, Cusi said the Philippines is number one in environmental sustainability.

“We beat all the countries. Out of 120 countries, we are number one (in environmental security)”, he said.

“Where we are poor is energy security and energy accessibility. Those are the areas that we need to improve on,” he added.

                                                Many Advantages

The group pointed out that advances in technology have allowed coal to improve living conditions with its current role in meeting man’s fuel needs.

Coal has been used extensively in power generation where better technology is employed to ensure that there is a balance between ecology and economics in producing sustainable and affordable energy.

For its Sual power plant, KEPCO would be using the ultra-supercritical technology which is the latest in coal power generation that greatly reduces carbon emission.

 Energy experts explained that one of the greatest advantages of coal fired plants is reliability. Coal’s ability to supply power during peak power demand either as base power or as off-peak power is greatly valued as a power plant fuel.

It is with this fact that advanced pulverized coal fired power plants are designed to support the grid system in avoiding blackouts.

            They pointed out that energy produced from coal fired plants is cheaper and more affordable than other energy sources. Since coal is abundant, it is definitely cheap to produce power using this fuel. Moreover, it is not expensive to extract and mine from coal deposits. Consequently, its price remains low compared to other fuel and energy sources.

There are approximately over 300 years of economic coal deposits still accessible, they said.  With this great amount of coal available for use, coal fired plants can be continuously fueled in many years to come.

The group added that there should be no problem about pollution because the technology producing power through coal is constantly improving.