Economist Winnie Monsod provides an expert’s analysis on the truth behind Department of Energy Secretary, Angelo Reyes’s, claims that the Philippines is teetering on an energy shortage that could lead to a Doomsday scenario for the Philippines
Arguments against the DOE’s claims that there is an impending energy crisis were summarized by the following points:
- Increased capacity and reliability of power plants due to transfer of ownership to the private sector and rehabilitation, results in an actual increase in operating capacity of existing power plants.
- Additional power plants are scheduled to come online in the Visayas and Mindanao regions. Luzon currently has a reserve capacity of 3000 MW.
- There is an actual slowdown in energy demand due to the bad world economy.
She goes on further to point out that the probable reason for the excessive claims was because it was said in front of Congressmen who were reviewing the budget of the DOE. And that Sec. Reyes contradicted himself by listing all the power plants that were coming online.
She goes on further to say that with the data at hand we can conclude that Luzon has no shortage of energy. That the blackout in the Visayas regions are already under control and that the black outs in Mindanao are mostly due to scheduled maintenance of power plants.
Only time will tell, on who gets to laugh last. Hopefully the joke won’t be on the Philippines.
Category: Misc, Philippines, Clean Energy
