On coal, industrialization, and GDP expansion

Three important energy events happened last Thursday, Sept. 25, that I want to comment on.

- BIENVENIDO S. OPLAS, JR.

The first was the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) “Enercon 2025” conference at Vivere Hotel in Muntinlupa City. The second was the signing of the PhilAtom law and the release of the Department of Energy (DoE) statement on nuclear energy. The third was the release of a statement from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on attacks by the renewable energy (RE) lobby, coupled with some frantic articles by climate activists against coal.

At the UPLB College of Economics’ roundtable discussion, the speaker was former National Power Corp. (NPC) president, Guido Delgado, and his presentation was about the “financialization” of the electricity sector. He blamed economists for the finance sophistication in the formula and attacked the ERC’s performance-based regulations (PBR). Weird.

I spoke briefly and pointed out, among others, that the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for intermittent solar and wind is not complete, it should consider the cost of ancillary services (AS) like batteries, or backup diesel gensets, or hydro-pumped storage for use when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining. So LCOE plus AS equals the levelized full cost of electricity (LFCOE) — and this is not cheaper than coal or gas.

Then the DoE released a statement: “DoE hails signing of PhiATOM law.” In it Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said that, “The passage of RA 12305 strengthens the regulatory framework that will enable the safe and secure peaceful use of nuclear energy in the country.”

Days before that, on Sept. 19, the Philippines was elected to the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the 2025-2027 term during the annual IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria. That is good news and I give my congratulations to Secretary Garin.