Alminaza: REady for renewable energy

March 6, 2022 by No Comments

LAST Monday (February 28, 2022), the biggest body of global climate scientists issued another chilling warning on the dire state of this Earth we live in. In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers predictions of great devastation, poverty and hunger as global temperatures continue to rise. And, as we have already been repeatedly told, even more catastrophic climate change will come if no global action takes place, especially on ending the use of fossil fuel energy.It is in this same context that one month ago, we in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines released a new Pastoral Statement on Ecology that calls for “unity and action amid a climate emergency and planetary crisis.” In it, we affirm the great need to leave coal, fossil gas and other destructive industries in the past, and move forward to a future fully powered by clean energy because the crisis we are in demands no less than this.With decades of fighting against dirty energy now under the belt of communities across the country, we understand all too well that energy transformation will not happen overnight. We have had a renewable energy (RE) law since 2008, and yet 10 years later the share of RE in our power mix reached its lowest — from 34 percent then, to 21 percent. Renewable energy still faces many struggles as it attempts to break through an energy landscape shaped in favor of proponents of coal and other fossil fuels.Let us take, for example, the recent experience of consumers of Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) who called on one of the biggest electric cooperatives of Negros Occidental to ensure that it conducts its power procurement processes in a way that consumers can be assured of affordable electricity prices while at the same time giving renewable suppliers a fair chance to win the bid. This Ceneco could do if its terms of reference are made in such a way that volatilities of fossil fuels and costs usually passed on to consumers are accounted for. But these calls were unheeded. A polluting coal power plant of Kepco-Salcon Power Corp. in Cebu won the tender with a bid that was just two centavos lower than the next lowest bidder — a renewable facility.Even still, we already know that the price of electricity this coal plant will produce will not be as least-cost as promised. Meanwhile, winning the bid means the coal plant is given another go signal to harm the health of people and environment in its host community. Difficulties like these make it hard for Negros, despite being known as the RE capital of the country, to maximize the abundant renewable energy we produce and potential we’ve yet to harness.But we need not lose heart. Many victories have already been won to advance RE development. Here in Negros, we have a long history of coal power projects not seeing fruition because of staunch stewards of creation fighting against them. Recently, we also celebrated a first of its kind renewable energy ordinance from Negros Oriental, which this weekend celebrated its annual Renewable Energy Day.Negros Occidental, meanwhile, is in the process of building our own RE roadmap.We must understand that this is a matter of great urgency. What would it take to make RE in Negros, the Visayas, and the Philippines as a whole reach a 100 percent share by 2050, and, as a midterm goal, at least 50 percent by 2030?This question is something whose answer we need to think of in the context of an upcoming national election. Consumers, environmental advocates, the youth, our faith communities, and Filipinos of all walks of life are certainly ready to benefit from clean energy and to contribute to solving the climate crisis. We need leaders in government who will be genuinely just as ready.On Sunday, some of the candidates running for positions in the Senate shared their time with different Negrosanon representatives in a dialogue called “REady ka na ba”? We were eager to hear what they have to say in the energy transformation and renewable energy conversation. May this be but a start to more meaningful clean energy discourses as the elections come upon us, and may they give rise to a pathway to a sustainably powered future for all!